After playing 36 minutes of solid basketball, the Sixers found themselves in a position all too familiar at the end of a playoff game. As dominant as Joel Embiid was offensively, he was showing signs of running out of gas down the stretch. To check off all the boxes, he had already gone back to the locker room with an injury scare.
With 3:49 left in the game, the Celtics again cut the Sixers lead to one as deja vu sank in: a winnable playoff game had turned into immense heartbreak as no one other
other than Embiid could get the Sixers over the finish line. Just like Game 7s in 2019 and 2021, the Sixers rested their hopes on Embiid’s broken body carrying them across the finish line.
Tyrese Maxey’s last field goal had come at the end of the third quarter. He only had two points from the line in the fourth and, to make matters worse, he had just smoked a wide open layup a few possessions ago.
After both teams clanked a couple jumpers off the rim, Maxey found himself with the ball at the top of the key. A screen came for a pick-and-roll, and with it the switch Maxey was looking for on Neemias Queta.
The Sixers would come up with another stop and Maxey hunted the same matchup again, zooming by Queta and Jaylen Brown to make it a two-possession game.
After another stop and Maxey took the ball again. This time his midrange pull-up didn’t fall, but he would contribute to their next and most important stop of the series.
The Celtics had killed the offensive glass when they were in control of this series. They got a second attempt to cut it a two-point game thanks to an offensive rebound. When Derrick White’s shot went off, Maxey skied up to get it, securing his ninth rebound of the game.
With 16 seconds left, all that was left was hitting his free throws. That was still an important hurdle to clear — the Sixers lost multiple season games, like one in Toronto and another against Atlanta, because Maxey wasn’t able to hit free throws to seal the game.
He hit all four attempted, completing his 10-point fourth quarter and putting the Boston Celtics away for good. Maxey finished with 30 points (on an efficient 11-of-18 from the field), 11 rebounds and seven assists.
“I just really wanted the ball,” Maxey told reporters at the podium after the game. “Early in the fourth, we went to Joel, and I just felt like it was time for me to step up, make a play.”
By doing so, Maxey and Embiid put themselves in elite company, as far as Game 7s go. Per ESPN’s stats’ department, they became the first duo to put up 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a Game 7.
Embiid is plenty responsible for shortcomings of Sixers playoff runs in the past, but he’s been let down by his supporting cast just as many — if not more — times.
This series they got over the hump not just because of Embiid’s brilliance, but his co-star finally rose to the moment as well.
