Joel Embiid's big night, Boston's missed 3s help 76ers complete 3-1 comeback, take series

This night went Philadelphia's way from the start.

With Tatum out, Mazzulla tried to inspire his team by making a dramatic change to his starting lineup. Only Brown and White remained as starters from Game 6, with Baylor Scheirman, Luka Garza and Ron Harper Jr. getting the start.

It didn't work. Boston started 1-of-7 from the floor with three turnovers and was quickly down nine, which grew to 13 points by the end of the first quarter. Boston became the first team in NBA playoff history to have three starters go scoreless (Scheirman, Garza and Harper).

Things started to change in the second, and Boston went on a 22-6 run behind White getting red hot and Mazzulla leaning more into guys he had gone to all season in Payton Pritchard and Neemias Queta. It also started to change because the Celtics hit their 3-pointers. After going 2-of-12 from deep in the first quarter, they hit 5-of-7 in the second, and Derrick White led the way with 19 points. Still, Philadelphia was up five at the half, 55-50. Embiid had 19 points, five boards and five assists in the first half, plus one monster block on Brown at the rim.

White had just seven points in the second half.

"[VJ Edgecombe] came out at halftime said "I got White"…." Philly coach Nick Nurse said. "White was cooking, and I think he had 2 points in the 3rd quarter. Those are the things that make a big difference in these games."

The third quarter looked a lot like the first, except that Mazzulla went small for a stretch and Embiid just started to take over, overpowering Brown in the post and talking to him the whole time. Mazzulla was banking on the math of made 3-pointers, but the Celtics made just 4-of-17 in the quarter (23.5%) while the 76ers were scoring comfortably every time down. The lead was 13 after three.

Boston started the fourth on a 16-4 run, and suddenly it was a one-point game. Boston was touching the paint on drives, not settling for 3s, and got some old-school 3-point plays, while their zone defense was confounding the 76ers, who started playing slowly. That said, Philly took the punch from Boston, stayed upright, and the game remained tight the rest of the way.

However, in the clutch, Maxey took over for Philadelphia while Boston went cold from 3, and that ended up being the game. And the series.