Joel Embiid scores 35 points as Sixers complete season sweep of Boston Celtics with 106-96 win

BOSTON — This was indeed a long time coming for the 76ers.

Tuesday’s 106-96 victory over the Boston Celtics at TD Garden enabled them to sweep the season series with their archrivals for the first time since the 2000-01 season and the fourth time overall.

“I didn’t know that,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said of the milestone. “This is one of the teams ... whether we swept them or not, the last three years they’ve been in the top of the East. So it’s great that we did it. It gives us a lot of confidence.

“Having said that, we’re not finished yet. I would say that. We still have work to do.”

In the process, Joel Embiid had 35 points and six rebounds in his second game back from a left knee bone bruise. He made 16 of 20 fouls shots.

“He had great rhythm today,” Rivers said. “And I thought he was very patient, too. I thought our passing when they doubled [him] was fantastic.

“They almost got in a pick-your-poison spot. That’s what we want Joel to be.”

This performance came after Embiid finished with 24 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 blocks in Saturday’s victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves after missing 10 games. The MVP candidate displayed rust in that game.

On Tuesday, he was dissatisfied with missing four free throws, telling TNT “too many misses.”

Embiid reitirated that during his postgame media availability.

“I’m actually very disappointed,” said Embiid, who made 12 of 17 free throws on Saturday. “That’s actually two games where I missed a lot of them.

“I don’t know why, but I just got to focus, I guess. They’re called free throws for a reason. It’s free, and I love getting to the free-throw line.”

Embiid added that he doesn’t spend a lot of energy at the free-throw line, noting that he actually rests more there.

“So I should actually take my time and knock them down,” he said. “At some point of my career, I want to become a 90% free-throw shooter, and just knock them down.”

But it was indeed a milestone achievement against Boston.

The Sixers also prevailed 117-109 on Jan. 20 and 122-110 on Jan. 22 against the Celtics at the Wells Fargo Center. Due to a shortened schedule, teams are playing interconference opponents three times this season instead of four.

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Philly came close to accomplishing that feat last season. The Sixers won the first three meetings before losing the fourth and final game. Then the Celtics went on to sweep them in the first round of the playoffs.

But both teams are distinctly different from the end of last season.

Back then, the Sixers were a team in disarray.

Now at 35-16, they’re tied with the Brooklyn Nets atop the Eastern Conference standings. Meanwhile, the Celtics (25-26) look nothing like the squad that reached last season’s conference finals. One could argue a lot of that has to do with their having key players sidelined this season due to testing positive for COVID-19 or contacting tracing.

Things apparently aren’t getting better.

Celtics guard Evan Fournier missed Tuesday’s game due to being in the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols. Fournier, who was acquired from the Orlando Magic on March 25, will likely be out all week.

Center Tristan Thompson, who had COVID, has been cleared to return after being sidelined since March 11. But he missed Tuesday’s game while being in the league’s reconditioning program.

On this night, the Celtics used various centers and power forward Semi Ojeleye to guard him.

Robert Williams III, who at 6-foot-8, got the start against the 7-2 Embiid. He didn’t provide much resistance, while picking up three first-quarter fouls. Williams eventually fouled out with 9:29 remaining.

Luke Kornet, at 7-2, was the sixth man. Then Mo Wagner (6-11) and Tacko Fall (7-5) all came in. Ojeleye (6-6) guarded him late.

“It doesn’t matter who’s in front of me,” Embiid said. “As we seen all season, it doesn’t really matter who has ben in front of me. I just attack. Every single game I want to be aggressive. I want to get the other bigs in foul trouble.”

Embiid had 12 points on 3-for-5 shooting while making all six of his foul shots in 10 minutes, 28 seconds during the first quarter. He had only three points on 1-for-4 shooting in the second quarter.

Fall came in for Kornet for the final 3:13 of the half. With him in the game, Embiid settled for and missed two three-pointers before intermission.

» READ MORE: Doc Rivers says there’s still no timetable for George Hill’s return

But Embiid went back to playing at a high level in the third quarter, scoring 11 points on 3-for-5 shooting. The Sixers built a commanding 21-point lead (79-58) on Ben Simmons’ layup with 5:01 left in the third quarter. That basket came on an assist from Embiid.

The big fella went on to add nine points in the fourth.

“Walking out, he turned to me and said, ‘I’m back,’ " Rivers said of Embiid. “And I said, ‘Yeah, I just noticed.’ ”

Danny Green (17 points, 5-for-6 on three-pointers), Simmons (12 points), Tobias Harris (10 points, eight rebounds) and Furkan Korkmaz (10 points) were the Sixers’ other double-digit scorers.

Jayson Tatum paced the Celtics with 20 points. Jaylen Brown added 17.