Payton Pritchard, Celtics spoil Joel Embiid's return in Game 4 rout of 76ers

PHILADELPHIA — Trailing the heavily favored Celtics two games to one, the 76ers received an ideal mid-series boost Sunday night. Joel Embiid, the oft-injured 2023 NBA MVP, was finally cleared to play after a seven-game absence. Healed from the emergency appendectomy he underwent weeks earlier, Embiid was upgraded from doubtful, to questionable, to available shortly before tipoff, giving Philadelphia a full-strength, star-studded roster for the first time this postseason. It hardly mattered. Embiid tallied 26 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in his first game since April 6, but Boston steamrolled his Sixers 128-96 in Game 4 at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Payton Pritchard set a new playoff career high with 32 points off the bench, helping the Celtics cruise through a quiet first half by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Tatum and Brown both heated up after halftime, with Tatum posting his second-highest scoring total since his March 6 return from Achilles surgery. He finished with 30 points on 8-of-16 shooting (5-for-10 from 3-point range; 9-for-9 from the foul line), plus 11 assists and seven rebounds. Brown added 20 points and seven boards. Slumping Celtics guard Derrick White scored just six points in the win (2-for-5), but he was a difference-maker defensively, foiling two Sixers fast breaks with chasedown blocks against Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. White’s Embiid rejection came on one of the few layup attempts by the superstar big man. Fifteen of Embiid’s 21 shots were jumpers from outside the paint, and he missed 10 of those. “You’re never going to be able to stop him,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “… You have to just be able to contain him and defend him as a team.” The Celtics, who believed they played too complacently after their Game 1 victory, causing them to drop Game 2 at home, responded by taking Games 3 and 4 in Philly. They can clinch the series and secure their spot in the Eastern Conference semifinals with a win Tuesday night at TD Garden (7 p.m.; ESPN). Embiid’s return was the top pregame headline, and centers from both teams hogged the spotlight early. The game’s first 17 points were scored by Embiid, Neemias Queta or Nikola Vucevic. Queta scored the Celtics’ first two field goals on pick-and-rolls and drew a foul beneath the basket. But Boston’s top big man could not shake the fouling issues that have plagued him throughout the series. For the third time in four games, Queta was whistled for two fouls in the opening four minutes. This time, it was two in the first 2:33, both drawn by Embiid, leading to another early entry for Vucevic. Third-stringer Luka Garza also saw first-quarter action, with Mazzulla initially deploying Vucevic against Embiid and Garza against veteran backup Andre Drummond. The rest of Boston’s bench broke the game open late in the first quarter. Pritchard scored 13 points in the final 4:30 of the period, hitting five of his first seven shots and three of his first five 3-pointers. After his second three, the Celtics’ sixth man turned and barked a few choice words in the direction of NBC’s sideline broadcast table. His third was a one-footed runner that beat the buzzer and put Boston ahead 34-18. “We’re at our best when he’s aggressive,” Mazzulla said. While Philadelphia struggled to corral Pritchard, fellow reserves Jordan Walsh and Baylor Scheierman caused problems with their defense, rebounding and perimeter shooting. Walsh locked down Maxey out of a Sixers timeout to force a turnover, and the Celtics grabbed four offensive rebounds on one first-quarter possession, with Walsh and Scheierman accounting for three of them. Each also made one 3-pointer as Boston closed the quarter on a 22-5 run. The Celtics staged that run despite minimal contributions from their two central stars. Brown was held scoreless in the first quarter for just the second time this season. Tatum missed seven of his first eight shots, including five errant 3-pointers. Brown found a groove late in the first half, but he and Tatum entered halftime with just 13 points between them on 4-for-17 shooting. Boston’s 56-38 halftime lead was primarily fueled by bench scoring — its reserves outscored Philly’s 32-9 over the first two quarters — and dominant work on the glass. At halftime, the Celtics had pulled down nine offensive rebounds and scored 13 second-chance points. The Sixers? Zero and zero. After the break, the Celtics’ big names finally settled in. Brown and Tatum matched their first-half scoring output in the first four minutes of the third quater as Boston stretched its lead to 69-43. The pair scored six of the Celtics’ first eight second-half field goals while adding eight free throws during that stretch. The lone outliers were Pritchard’s fifth and sixth threes of the game, both of which were assisted by Tatum. Pritchard provided Boston’s final eight points of the third, which he capped by drawing a VJ Edgecombe foul with one second remaining. The Sixers put up 35 points in the period — nearly equaling their first-half total — yet still trailed by 21 entering the fourth, 95-74. Tatum hit three 3-pointers in the final quarter before both teams lifted their starters. A win in Game 5 would give the Celtics a