Having come into the season with championship aspirations, the 76ers instead saw themselves sitting at an unfathomable 3-14 on Thanksgiving Day, with daily questions about whether they would be better off trying to keep their draft pick as opposed to attempting to reach the postseason.
But after Wednesday’s 118-114 Christmas Day victory over the defending champion Boston Celtics, Philadelphia has now ripped off wins in eight of its past 11 games, has climbed out of the basement in the Eastern Conference and has renewed the team’s hopes of a deep postseason run.
“We got a high ceiling,” said Joel Embiid, who twisted his ankle when he stepped on a security guard’s foot during warmups but finished with 27 points and nine rebounds in 31 minutes for Philadelphia (11-17). “It’s all about us putting it together.
“I don’t think that was close to our best basketball, but we got a pretty good chance. So it’s all about looking for some luck, and staying healthy.”
Against Boston, Philadelphia took care of the ball (13-6 edge in turnovers), didn’t miss a free throw (19-for-19), got huge games from both Embiid and Maxey (33 points, 12 assists), and got a massive contribution from Caleb Martin, who returned to his role as Celtics killer from the 2023 Eastern Conference finals by going 7-for-9 from 3 for 23 points.
