A lot can change in just one month. The Philadelphia 76ers have gone from NBA laughingstock to legitimate contenders, silencing critics like Charles Barkley who recently compared them to the sunken Titanic.
Back on Thanksgiving, things looked pretty grim. The Sixers were stumbling with a 3-14 record and their stars were battling injuries.
Now? They just took down the defending champion Celtics 118-114 in a Christmas Day statement win.
Tyrese Maxey led the charge with a spectacular 33-point, 12-assist performance. The young guard has really stepped up as the team’s leader this season.
“We got a high ceiling,” said Joel Embiid, who added 27 points and 9 rebounds in just 31 minutes. “It’s all about us putting it together.”
The Sixers have now won 8 of their last 11 games, looking nothing like the team that struggled early in the season.
What made the victory even more impressive was their perfect free-throw shooting, going 19-for-19 from the line. Caleb Martin, who seems to always save his best for Boston, came up huge with 23 points including seven three-pointers.
“I know how they’re going to guard me,” Martin said confidently after the game. “I know what shots I’m going to have, and I have to take those no matter what.”
The Celtics tried mounting a late comeback, cutting a 14-point deficit in the final minutes. But it wasn’t enough to avoid their first back-to-back losses this season.
Boston star Jaylen Brown didn’t mince words about his team’s performance: “We came out too casual. Nobody was sprinting down the floor, just kind of hanging around.”
For Philadelphia, the turnaround has been remarkable. With Embiid healthy and Maxey emerging as a star, they’re starting to look like real contenders again.
The only question now is whether they can keep this momentum going. As Embiid put it, they’ll need some luck and good health – but the potential is definitely there.
