BOSTON — As Joel Embiid writhed on the ground in pain, a cohort of Sixers employees stared in disbelief. The game hadn’t even started yet. They were just warm-up exercises. But somehow, less than an hour before the Philadelphia 76ers’ Christmas game against the Boston Celtics, Embiid managed to trip over a security guard’s foot and twist his ankle.

Embiid took a minute to get up and ended up limping around angrily as he finished his warmup and stalked to the locker room. Of course, once he made a game-winning decision, there was concern that he would miss another crucial game.

“(It) hurt a little bit, but it’s Christmas. Gotta play in the Christmas game,” Embiid said after defeating the Celtics 118-114. “I can’t feel bad. Life is life. It happens. They do whatever it takes to get better and get back on the ground. But it’s hard. But what can you do?”

Embiid wasn’t the only Sixers player who faced a challenge early in the game. Tyrese Maxey was frantic when his phone rang with a message from his friend Trendon Watford. The Nets guard told Maxey that he always does the regular old games, but could he do that on Christmas while his whole family is watching?

As Maxey talked about how he “stunk” at Christmas last year, Embiid spoke up from the locker next door. “You were like the worst player in the NBA.” Maxey nodded and said that the game had been in the back of his mind for a long time. He can finally let it go. Despite Paul George and Embiid, Maxey stole the show against Boston with 33 points and 12 assists, the second-highest dime of his career.

His speed on the ball left the Celtics defense breathing dust all night long. When they pressured him most of the night, he found a way to deal with it. The 76ers had just two turnovers before crunch time began, but then corrected course when the Celtics’ half-court press turned it around after two straight plays. They just always had an answer, and the first step to that equation was Maxey.

Even when Boston thought they had him contained, his speed prevailed. Maxey is so fast that he can catch the ball, lose it, retrieve it and then fire a shot within a second to put the game on ice.

TYRESE MAXEY. pic.twitter.com/xekbPjFk2B

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) December 26, 2024

Maxey said he actually hyperextended his knee a bit on that ride. Even his own body has difficulty dealing with the G-forces.

In this game he was a real defensive player who repeatedly created deflections with his attack point defense and was even able to stand up to Kristaps Porziņģis at times. The Celtics simply had trouble getting past Maxey and Jayson Tatum couldn’t bully him. A lot of what worked for Boston in the past didn’t hold up with this pitbull version of Maxey.

Philadelphia’s second unit couldn’t have dominated the fourth quarter without Caleb Martin. He went 7 of 9 from 3 and played good defense – that’s the guy the Sixers were expecting when they signed him this offseason.

“That’s what Caleb does,” Maxey said. “This is the Undertaker we know.”

Sixers players repeatedly called Martin the Undertaker after the game, perhaps because it seemed like a revival of a slow start to his 76ers career. But a near-perfect shot from distance was unwelcome déjà vu for the Celtics. Martin has a habit of catching fire against Boston, beating the Celtics early in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals.

“He hates them as much as I do,” Embiid said with a wry smile.

But the first thing he told coach Nick Nurse after the game was that he felt much better physically than he did two weeks ago. Nurse said that’s why Martin struggled defensively all night and just looked healthier than he did two weeks ago.

A lot has been different for the Sixers in the last few weeks. They are 8-3 in their last 11 games and have finally advanced to the play-in portion of the standings.

Their win against San Antonio on Monday was proof that they could still win without Embiid after he was ejected. But the win in Boston shows they can compete with an elite team from start to finish without any game-changing twists and turns. The second unit’s 23-6 run in the fourth quarter provided the cushion needed to survive the Celtics’ decisive turnaround, with the Sixers’ stars having just enough moments to put the game away.

“I think we have a high ceiling,” Embiid said. “I don’t think it was anywhere near our best basketball. But we had a pretty good chance, so all that’s left is to hope for some luck and stay healthy.”

Embiid said a key difference with Boston is that Philadelphia has always lacked wings, which is a clear disadvantage compared to the league’s best wing pairing. Their depth makes the Celtics a little more manageable and allows the Sixers to weaken as the game goes on.

“You can never have enough (wings),” he said. “But I feel like we have quite a few now.”

But this win wasn’t just about keeping up with the champions. The Sixers are finally a complete team, (mostly) healthy and have found their identity. There’s some consistency to the rotations, the guys are figuring out their roles and just knowing what they’re supposed to do.

“Just play harder,” Embiid said. “We are after the ball. We actually follow the game plan. … It’s always going to be a challenge because 95 percent of the team is brand new.”

For that reason, Embiid said the team still has a long way to go. The Sixers are still learning to play with each other. He knows the Maxey-Embiid pick-and-pop game will be their bread and butter to get the team through difficult moments, but this is a Sixers team that is starting to show that it has that huge drop -offs that bury them can avoid.

“We put the pieces together. We started figuring it out,” Martin said. “We didn’t have many games where everyone took part. We still have almost 30 games behind us and are trying to put it together. Tonight was a big, big step in the right direction.”

(Photo: Michael Dwyer / Associated Press)