Jimmy Butler and Joel Embiid rose to the occasion when it mattered for the 76ers against Boston Celtics to come out on top of Kyrie Irving and co.
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Embiid was on fire tonight, leading the charge for the 76ers with 37 points and 22 rebounds. Jimmy Butler, who has received a lot of criticism this season, took matters in his own hands in the 4th quarter, scoring 15 points along with the game winning dagger with an 18 foot jumper.
“They put the ball in my hand in the fourth quarter and tell me to make plays,” Butler said.
“I think, as of late, I’ve been doing a good job of that.” he added.
The atmosphere was different at the Wells Fargo Center today, as the 76ers were treating the Celtics matchup as a huge one going into the playoffs season. and were determined to come out on top. Ever since the Tobias Harris trade, the 76ers believe that they can go all the way this NBA season and are now fine tuning themselves before the business end of the season.
In the final play that led to the win, Kyrie Irving drove to the rim, with Joel Embiid guarding him. Embiid who had had a brilliant defensive night, rode along with Kyrie before rising up and blocking the shot attempt from the Celtics man. The Celtics did manage to get another shot off but it fell short and Embiid was able to gather the rebound.
The ball was then knocked off to Jimmy Butler, with close to 26 seconds on the clock and he was told to do his thing with the clutch shot.
Butler took his defender to the right wing, isolating him with his back to the rim. He then went took up an 18 footer jumper and banked it home to win it for the 76ers. After knocking down the game winner, Butler stared at the rim for a couple of second, with teammates later coming in and hugging him.
Check out the video:
With this display against the Celtics, do you think the 76ers have a realistic chance of making it to the NBA finals this season?
This is how Twitter reacted to it:
