76ers stun Celtics 109-100 in Boston

Philadelphia just pulled off the kind of playoff win that changes how a whole postseason looks. The 76ers went into Boston on Saturday night, won Game 7 by nine, and finished off a comeback from 3-1 down. That is rare on its own. Doing it against the Celtics, in TD Garden, with the East bracket opening up behind it — that is the part that makes it feel bigger. Now the Sixers move on, and Boston is left with an early exit that looked almost impossible a week ago. ### How surprising was this? Very. Philadelphia became just the 14th team in NBA history to win a best-of-seven series after trailing 3-1. It was also the franchise’s first playoff series win over Boston since 1982. The Celtics had been 32-0 all time when leading a series 3-1, while the Sixers had been 0 this series, and both got smashed in the same week. ### What actually won the game? The stars, but also the control. Joel Embiid finished with 34 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists. Tyrese Maxey gave Philadelphia 30 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists. VJ Edgecombe added 23, which mattered because Boston kept trying to load up on Embiid and Maxey. The Sixers led for all but 31 seconds and survived Boston’s last real charge in the fourth. ### Why did Boston look so off? The biggest reason is simple — no Jayson Tatum. He was ruled out before tipoff with left knee stiffness, and that changed the shape of everything Boston wanted to do. Jaylen Brown still scored 33, Derrick White had 26, and Neemias Queta gave them 17 and 12. But the Celtics never had their usual 13-for-49 from three, which is 26.5%. In a game where they were already missing their top scorer, that kind of night from deep is brutal. ### Did Boston have a real chance late? Yes — and that is what makes this feel like a proper Game 7 instead of a wire-to-wire cruise. Boston opened the fourth quarter on a 16-4 run and cut the lead to 92-91. For a minute it looked like the building was about to flip the game. But then Maxey got loose for a layup with 1:15 left, the difference. The Sixers built the cushion, but Maxey closed the door. ### Why does Embiid matter so much here? Because the whole series changed when he showed up. Embiid missed the first three games while recovering from an appendectomy and debuted in Game 4. From there, the matchup stopped looking like a clean Boston series and started looking unstable. He ended up becoming the difference after missing the first three games. That sounds absurd because it is. ### What changes now? The bracket. Philadelphia, the No. 7 seed, moves on to face the No. 3 Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals, with Game 1 set for Monday night in New York. The Sixers are the first No. 7 seed to beat a No. 2 seed since the league went to best-of-seven first-round series in 2003. So this is not just an upset — it rewires the East. ### Bottom line? The Sixers did the hard version. They beat Boston in Boston, erased a 3-1 hole, and got their biggest playoff breakthrough against the team that has haunted them for years. Now they get New York. Boston gets a summer full of ugly questions.