The Philadelphia 76ers shocked the sports world after defeating the Boston Celtics in a seven-game series during the first round of the NBA playoffs.

The Sixers went from being down 3-1 in the series, to coming all the way back and knocking out the second seed Celtics to advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Sixers were one of the last teams to make it into the playoffs, just giving one final push in the play-in tournament. 

The series started rough for Philadelphia without star center Joel Embiid, who underwent an appendectomy on April 9th. Embiid missed the first three games of the series, including the huge game one blowout where the Celtics 123-91.

Embiid returned for game four in Philadelphia, where the Celtics got their final win of the series with a score of 128-96. The Celtics were heading back to Boston for game five with a 3-1 series lead.

Games five and six were monumental for the city of Philadelphia. Embiid continued to put his body on the line, just a few weeks after an emergency surgery to remove his appendix. Philly won games five and 6, with a score of 113-97 and 106-93. 

Game seven took the Sixers back to the city of Boston and TD Garden arena. Coming back from a 3-1 series deficit for the first time in franchise history, and the first Philadelphia-Boston series win since 1982, The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Boston Celtics 109-100 to seal the series.

Despite the concerns surrounding Embiid’s appendectomy and missing the first three games, Embiid still led his team in stats for all major categories: points, rebounds, assists, and blocks.

Additionally, Embiid’s 28-point average led all players in the series between both teams. 

“It was really cool to see a big win like that,” said Lower Dauphin junior Joselyn Swartz.

“I was skeptical after game four, but we wanted Boston,” said Lower Dauphin senior Kylie Wilt.

The 76ers are set to take on the New York Knicks for the Eastern Conference Semifinals starting tonight at 8pm.