Trio of NBA 1st-Round Game 7s Sets Stage for Drama

The first round of the NBA playoffs was first-rate.

This past weekend provided fans with three Game Sevens, bringing the kind of matchups that draw in even the casual fan.

Two of the teams this weekend came back from the brink of elimination, down 3–1, while the Cleveland Cavaliers endured the ebbs and flows of going up in the series twice only to have the Toronto Raptors claw back into contention.

The must-see action began on Saturday with the seventh-seeded Philadelphia 76ers completing an unlikely comeback against the second-seeded Boston Celtics, a strong championship contender in the Eastern Conference.

It culminated with the scrappy Raptors succumbing to the Cavaliers.

Here’s a closer look at the action.

Big Philly Stakes

The 76ers kicked off the weekend tripleheader with a fourth-quarter thriller on Saturday, battling past the Celtics 109–100 on the road in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

The game brought the sort of compelling theater that normally produces playoff heroes as veteran center Joel Embiid put together a postseason highlight moment with 34 points and 12 boards. The 7-footer had climbed out of a hospital bed and onto the court on April 26—just 17 days after an appendectomy sidelined him—and dropped 26 points with 10 rebounds in a game four loss to Boston that left Philly down in the series 3–1.

But game seven saw Embiid power ahead even after a teammate ran into his left knee late in the fourth quarter, and the big man also drilled a 3-pointer midway through the same period that helped the 76ers pad their slim lead and kill some momentum for the Celtics.

The triumph in the finale was the first time in 44 years that the 76ers took out the Celtics in a series, and Philadelphia also became only the 14th club in NBA history to come back from a 3–1 deficit to win a best-of-seven set.

Next up for the underdog 76ers is a matchup in the conference semifinals against the New York Knicks. The first-round upset will likely only go down in the annals of Philadelphia sports history if the 76ers go on to a championship run.

A title, however, isn’t likely with Embiid, known as “The Process,” historically unable to stay healthy. And he’s already compromised.

Meanwhile, the loss probably won’t send heads rolling in Boston, but it did send Celtics forward Jaylen Brown to the mic to bemoan Philly’s Embiid and the officiating in a rambling tantrum-like rant about flopping and fouls that made it sound as though the favored Celtics didn’t in fact blow a 3–1 series lead.

The Celtics were in position to close out the series but lost three of their four games at home.

Boston star Jayson Tatum, who tore his right Achilles during last season’s playoffs and had returned to action 10 months later, had to sit out the final game because of an injury to his left knee.

Magic’s Disappearing Act

The East’s top-seeded Detroit Pistons fought back from the edge of a disastrous postseason for a job-saving series victory over the No. 8 seed Orlando Magic on Sunday, winning 116–94 in their Game seven showdown.

It was the club’s first playoff series win in 18 years.

The victory was a success for the Pistons and coach J.B. Bickerstaff, but resulted in the quick dismissal of Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley on Monday.

Mosley had been in charge of the team for five years, and the Magic had reached the postseason the past three. But he was unable to guide the club past the first round in any of those runs, and Sunday saw Cade Cunningham go off for 32 points and 12 assists, and Tobias Harris shred the Magic’s defense for 30 points in a winner-take-all clash.

It was a seminal moment for Harris, who has played for five teams and was often a target of fans’ ire during his playoff career with the 76ers. His 30 points were not only critical on the scoreboard, many of them were gut punches to the Magic, who were without oft-injured point-producer Franz Wagner.

Cavaliers Call It a Wrap

Big games often see big names come through, but that wasn’t necessarily the case for Cleveland, which found gold as center Jarrett Allen came up with 22 points and 19 rebounds in the clincher over an injury-plagued Raptors side in a 114–102 victory.

Allen, for whom plays are rarely drawn up, was a monster on the defensive side as well on offense for the Cavaliers, who won Game 5 and then outlasted the Raptors in the finale. Allen snatched the spotlight from stars James Harden, the 2018 MVP, and Donovan Mitchell.

Mitchel scored 22 points, while Harden chipped in with 18 for Cleveland.

Toronto was without star Brandon Ingram, who was sidelined with a bad right heel. Immanuel Quickley also sat out because of a hamstring issue.

It’s hard to believe that all this action took place in the first round, but NBA fans are certainly salivating over a second-round helping of more.