76ers stun Celtics 109–100 in Game 7, complete franchise’s first-ever 3-1 comeback

Philadelphia finally got the version of this rivalry it has been chasing for decades. The 76ers went into Boston, won Game 7 by nine, and turned a 3-1 series hole into the first such comeback in franchise history. That matters on its own. But the bigger thing is who they did it against — a Celtics team that had owned this matchup in the Embiid era and had never blown a 3-1 series lead before. (apnews.com) ### Why does this feel bigger than one first-round series? Because this was not just survive-and-advance stuff. Philadelphia had been 0-18 all time in series when trailing 3-1, and it had not beaten Boston in a playoff series since 1982. So this was a franchise-history wall, a rivalry w(apnews.com) like a normal round-one result. (nba.com) ### What actually won Game 7? Star power and control. Joel Embiid finished with 34 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists. Tyrese Maxey gave Philadelphia 30 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists. That is the whole shape of the game right there — Embiid bending Boston’s defense, Maxey punishing the openings, and both(nba.com) (apnews.com) ### Was Boston close to stealing it anyway? Yes — but only after spending most of the night behind. Philadelphia led for all but about one minute of the game, built an 18-point cushion, then had to survive a hard Celtics push in the fourth. That part matters, because it tells you this w(apnews.com)ast test when Boston made the arena feel alive again. (nba.com) ### How much did Jayson Tatum’s absence matter? A lot. Boston was without Tatum in Game 7, which changed the offense completely and put even more shot-creation pressure on everyone else. That does not erase what Philadelphia did, but it is part of the explanation for why the Celtics looked so uneven trying (nba.com)ad and finish it. They did. (apnews.com) ### What was the Celtics’ real problem? Shot quality turning into shot dependence. Boston’s attack leaned heavily on 3-pointers, and when those did not fall consistently, the offense got brittle. That is the catch with a math-heavy system in a Game 7 — it can look unbeatable when the rh(apnews.com)enough rebounds to make that volatility hurt. (nbcsports.com) ### What changes for Embiid now? The conversation shifts. Embiid has put up huge numbers before, but this is the kind of playoff win people remember because it changes the story attached to the player. He had kept running into Boston. Now he has a road Game 7 in Boston, a comeback from 3-1 down, and what several recaps framed as one of the defining postseason performances of his career. (espn.com) ### So what comes next? New York. Philadelphia advances to face the Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and the bracket suddenly looks different because the defending East power is gone early. For the Sixers, the job is not to treat this as the ending. But basically, they just cleared the part that had kept making everything else feel impossible. (nytimes.com) The bottom line is simple — the Sixers did not just win a Game 7. They erased one of the oldest scripts attached to the franchise, and they did it in the building and against the opponent that made that script feel permanent.