76ers Survive Matchup vs. Celtics Without Joel Embiid's Starpower

PHILADELPHIA, PA -- Thursday night was set for another battle between two bitter rivals, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics. The early January matchup was the third installment of the Sixers-Celtics rivalry this season -- and so far this year, Philly has owned their opponent as they defeated Boston twice already.

However, there was going to be a significant factor missing for Philly this time around. For the first two matchups against the Celtics, the Sixers had dominant performances by their superstar center, Joel Embiid.

On Thursday, though, there was no Embiid. Due to a dislocated finger, which would soon be diagnosed as a torn radial collateral ligament in his left hand, the Sixers' big man will have to miss some time as he's scheduled for surgery on Friday morning.

So without Embiid, the Sixers knew they had to step up in a major way -- especially after seeing the results of the Sixers' previous Embiid-less matchup against Indiana. For a moment on Thursday, it felt like the Sixers may see a repeat of that dreadful New Year's Eve blowout.

But a strong second-half for Philly allowed the Sixers to rally and defeat the Celtics for the third time this season -- even without their best player on the floor. Following the game, Sixers' head coach Brett Brown credited Embiid's replacement Al Horford and his backup, Norvel Pelle, for stepping up big-time.

"I think they did [play well]," Brown said following the 109-98 win on Thursday. "When you're missing Joel [Embiid], you better have some people do what Norvel [Pelle] did. And Ben [Simmons], his limited minutes [at center]. Al Horford was huge, all over the place. It was next-man-up. We had to find something to fill that massive void Joel left."

Without Embiid on the floor, Brown and the Sixers had to experiment with a different playing style. Typically, teams would struggle to adjust so quickly, but Sixers' point guard Ben Simmons, embraced the idea of switching up their style for the matchup.

"We're excited to have this opportunity to have a different game style," Simmons said. "Obviously, we're going to miss Joel, for however long it is. He's a huge part of this team. But tonight was a good start. Overall, result-wise, we played well."

It wasn't all pretty for the Sixers, who did begin to lose momentum during the second quarter. At a point, they were down 15 points to the Celtics. Once the Sixers realized they didn't have a player like Embiid, who could single-handily bring them back to life, the team came together and figured out a way to churn out a win.

"We probably played the whole [first] half and realized Joel is not playing tonight," said Sixers' starting forward, Tobias Harris. "But once we locked in and was able to get stops and out in transition, that was the opening of the game."

With Thursday's win, the Sixers picked up victory number 25 on the season, advancing to 25-14 on the year. They remain behind Toronto, Boston, and Miami for the second seed, but they improve to 6-3 against the four teams ahead of them with another victory over the Celtics on Thursday night.