Celtics spoil Embiid's return to
action after appendectomy, beat 76ers to take 3-1 series lead
[April 27, 2026]
By DAN GELSTON
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Payton Pritchard made six of Boston’s 24
3-pointers and scored 32 points and Jayson Tatum had 30 points and
11 assists to help the Boston Celtics spoil Joel Embiid’s return
from an appendectomy and beat the Philadelphia 76ers 128-96 on
Sunday night for a 3-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Game 5 is Tuesday night in Boston.
“It's going to have to be a big pick-up mentally,” 76ers coach Nick
Nurse said.
Jaylen Brown scored 20 points for the Celtics, who thumped the
Sixers by 32 points for the second time in the series. The Celtics
outrebounded the Sixers 51-30.
Embiid scored 26 points in 34 minutes just 17 days after having an
appendectomy. Embiid wasted little time scoring in his first game
since April 6. The two-time NBA scoring champion sank two free
throws for the Sixers’ first points of the game, added a monster
two-handed jam and scored the team’s first eight points.
Embiid withered after the fast start and missed seven straight shots
before he converted a three-point play in the third quarter. That
cut the Sixers' deficit to 23.
The Celtics hardly needed much production from Brown or Tatum — they
combined for 50 points in a Game 3 win and only 13 in the first half
of Game 4 — and used a whopping 14-rebound edge in the first half
that sparked a 13-0 shutout in second-chance points to build a
21-point lead.
All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey took a backseat to Embiid and took only
three shots in the first half. He scored 22 points for the Sixers.
“That can't happen," Maxey said of the slow start. “That's on me.
That's just unacceptable by me. I was playing within the flow of the
game. It kind of happened that way. It wasn't meant to happen that
way.”
Maxey and the Sixers largely tried to get Embiid rolling early.
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Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum (0) goes up for a shot against
Philadelphia 76ers' Kelly Oubre Jr. (9) during the first half of
Game 4 in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series Sunday, April
26, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Embiid had an appendectomy in Houston on April 9
after Philadelphia’s star big man was stricken with appendicitis
overnight. He returned to the court Sunday wearing a protective
brace around his midsection and was cleared to play about 40 minutes
before the scheduled tipoff.
“What am I going to do? Cry about it?” Embiid said of his latest
postseason malady.
Whatever emotional lift he provided lasted only
minutes into the first quarter.
Pritchard buried a long 3 on one leg to end the first quarter and
give Boston a 34-18 lead.
“He’s just a guy that finds the game. He dictates the pace for us,”
Celtics coach Joe Mazulla said. "He did a good job of that for
himself and others tonight. When we’re at our best, he’s
aggressive.”
Embiid shot 3 of 5 in the first quarter while the rest of the Sixers
missed 10 of 13 shots.
There were some questions about how Tatum’s return in early March
from the ruptured Achilles tendon he suffered in the playoffs last
May would affect the flow of a group that had learned to adjust and
thrive without the six-time All-Star.
Instead, Tatum has reacclimated himself in short order and the
Celtics are dominating like a team that feels as though the East
will go through Boston.
Embiid's gutsy return mattered little, and now the Celtics can
clinch the series at home and wait for the winner of the Atlanta
Hawks-New York Knicks series.
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