Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid reacts in the course of the first half of Game 4 against the Boston Celtics in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid’s surprise return only 17 days after having an appendectomy fell flat and did nothing to assist the Philadelphia 76ers stay competitive with Boston.
Embiid had 26 points and 10 rebounds in 34 minutes, a gutsy effort in his latest return from injury that wasn’t enough to beat the Celtics of their 128-96 Game 4 win Sunday night for a 3-1 lead of their first-round playoff series.
READ: NBA: Celtics spoil Joel Embiid’s return, beat 76ers for 3-1 lead
JOEL EMBIID IS BACK 💥
He’s scored the primary 8 points for Philly in Game 4! pic.twitter.com/dbsd5f8JXD
— NBA (@NBA) April 26, 2026
“You are trying to do the perfect job possible with the conditions,” Embiid said. “You’ve still got to go on the market and check out and play and win a basketball game. We didn’t try this tonight. We didn’t play well.”
Embiid — who received a roaring ovation in pregame introductions — wasted little time scoring in his first game since April 6. The 2-time NBA scoring champion sank two free throws for the Sixers’ first points of the sport, 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 converting a three-point play within the third quarter. That cut the Sixers’ deficit to 23 points.
Embiid was listed as doubtful to begin the day and was upgraded to questionable about 90 minutes before the scheduled tipoff. Embiid returned to the court wearing a protective brace around his midsection, and was cleared to play about 40 minutes before the beginning of Game 4.
The 32-year-old Embiid averaged 26.9 points and seven.7 rebounds this season after playing in just 19 games in 2024-25. He hasn’t appeared in as many as 40 games in an everyday season since 2022-23, when he averaged a career-best 33.1 points and earned MVP honors.
READ: NBA: Joel Embiid provides emotional lift in play-in win
Embiid had an appendectomy in Houston — he said he had unspecified complications after the surgery — on April 9 after Philadelphia’s star big man was stricken with appendicitis overnight.
Embiid provided nothing greater than an early emotional lift to a Sixers team that was a 7 1/2-point home underdog to the Celtics, in keeping with oddsmakers.
“I believed he had plenty of attractiveness,” coach Nick Nurse said. “Quite a lot of them went out and in. That wasn’t definitely helping our offense.”
The Celtics won Game 1 by 32 points and the Sixers responded with a surprise 111-97 win in Boston in Game 2. Tyrese Maxey scored 31 points and shot the Sixers right into a fourth-quarter lead in Game 3 before Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown took over down the stretch for the Celtics in a 108-100 victory.
Embiid joined Maxey, rookie standout VJ Edgecombe, Paul George and Kelly Oubre Jr. within the starting lineup.
Embiid’s absence within the play-in tournament win over Orlando and the primary three playoff games against Boston continues a trend of injury-plagued postseasons.
READ: Joel Embiid has appendectomy, doubtful for playoffs
Comparable to:
In 2024, Embiid played within the playoffs through a bout with Bell’s palsy, a type of facial paralysis. He wore sunglasses to the rostrum after he scored 50 points within the Sixers’ Game 3 win over the Knicks and said on the time he was coping with various symptoms corresponding to blurred vision and dry eyes.
A yr earlier, Embiid missed a playoff game in two series due to a sprained right knee.
In 2022, the Sixers won 51 games under coach Doc Rivers and had an ideal probability at a deep playoff run until Embiid suffered a right orbital fracture and a concussion when he was hit within the face by Toronto’s Pascal Siakam. He also suffered a torn ligament in his right thumb. Embiid missed two games in a second-round series against Miami. The Sixers lost each games and the series, 4-2.
Embiid missed one game within the 2021 playoffs with a torn meniscus in his right knee.
He missed one playoff game in 2019 and two in 2018 with injuries.
Embiid said he no alternative but to push through his latest postseason malady headed into Game 5 Tuesday night in Boston.
“You almost certainly undergo a few days where you are feeling bad for yourself,” Embiid said. “Then it’s right back to it. Are you going to offer up or are you going to try and are available back as early as possible?”