76ers eliminate Celtics in Game 7

The NBA story here is simple — Boston had a 3-1 lead, came home for Game 7, and still got bounced. Philadelphia won 109-100 on Saturday, May 2, at TD Garden and finished one of the stranger first-round turnarounds in years. That matters because the Celtics were the No. 2 seed, the Sixers were the No. 7 seed, and this series looked basically over a week ago. Now Boston is out, and Philadelphia gets New York next. (nba.com) ### How did Philly actually win this? By getting the stars right and the support scoring at the same time. Joel Embiid put up 34 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists. Tyrese Maxey gave Philadelphia 30 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists. Then rookie VJ Edgecombe added 23 more, which mattered bec(nba.com)ladelphia led for all but about one minute. (nba.com) ### What went wrong for Boston? The biggest thing is that Boston never got its usual top-end balance. Jayson Tatum was out with left knee stiffness, which changed the whole shape of the offense before tipoff. Jaylen Brown scored 33 and Derrick White added 26, but the Celtics were chasing the game f(nba.com). (nba.com) ### Why is the 3-1 comeback such a big deal? Because both teams dragged ugly history into this game, and Philadelphia broke all of it at once. The Sixers had been 0-18 in series when trailing 3-1. Boston had been 32-0 in series when leading 3-1. So this was not just a comeback — it was the first time either franchise saw that script flip. (nba.com) history to recover from 3-1 down. (nba.com) ### Why does the seeding matter? A No. 7 seed beating a No. 2 seed is rare on its own, but the catch is that this did not look like a normal 7-over-2 upset. Philadelphia had star talent all year and spent chunks of the season trying to get healthy and coherent. Still, the bracket says what it says (nba.com)to best-of-seven first-round series in 2003. (nba.com) ### What changes for the Sixers now? The reward is not exactly easy. Philadelphia moves on to face the Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Those teams split their four regular-season games, with the home team winning all four, and New York has won seven of the last nine meetings overall. S(nba.com)very different opponent. (nba.com) ### Why will this stick with Boston? Because this is the kind of loss that hangs around. Boston had home court, the better seed, the 3-1 lead, and a long franchise record of closing these series out. Then it lost the first quarter 32-19 and spent the rest of the night trying to climb back. Fans wil(nba.com)pen as long as you think. (espn.com) ### Bottom line? Philadelphia did the hard part — survive, then finish. Boston did the scarier thing — it let a series it controlled turn into someone else's breakthrough. The Sixers are still playing because Embiid and Maxey were huge when the season got tight, and because in Game 7 they looked calmer than the team that was supposed to be safer. (nba.com)