Imago
Credits: Imagn
Imago
Credits: Imagn
It takes a true champ to eat his words, and Earvin “Magic” Johnson did it with that signature Showtime grace. The Lakers legend, whose epic rivalry with Larry Bird made every Celtics matchup personal back in the day, has officially walked back his early dismissal of the Philadelphia 76ers after Philly’s gritty 113-97 road victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 5 on Tuesday night. Magic has long seen the Celtics as the gold standard in the East, and he was convinced this year’s squad would wrap up the 2026 first-round series in a hurry against the seventh-seeded Sixers. How wrong he was, and how glad he was to be proven otherwise.
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Johnson took to social media to offer a formal apology to Philly for counting out the seventh seed. The win, which trimmed Boston’s series lead to 3-2, was fueled by a vintage performance from Joel Embiid, who seems to have finally found his rhythm after a harrowing medical layoff.
“I have to apologize to the Philadelphia 76ers for thinking the Series was over after Game 4,” Johnson posted on X. The 5x NBA champion cited Philadelphia’s balanced attack and defensive grit as the primary reasons for his change of heart. “Tonight, the 76ers beat the Celtics and were led by the dominant inside play of Joel Embiid – he had 33 points and 8 assists! He had plenty of help from Tyrese Maxey’s 25 points, Paul George’s 16 points and Quentin Grimes’ 18 points off the bench which included four 3’s! Grimes also played solid on the defensive end which helped the 76ers beat the Celtics 113-97!”
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Magic also tipped his cap to head coach Nick Nurse: “My hat goes off to 76ers Coach Nick Nurse who had an awesome game plan and had his team believing that they could beat the Celtics on the road in Boston!”
I have to apologize to the Philadelphia 76ers for thinking the Series was over after Game 4. Tonight, the 76ers beat the Celtics and were led by the dominant inside play of Joel Embiid – he had 33 points and 8 assists! He had plenty of help from Tyrese Maxey’s 25 points, Paul…
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) April 29, 2026
This public about-face comes just 48 hours after Magic crowned Boston’s Game 4 blowout (128-96) as “the best all-around team performance in the NBA Playoffs so far,” raving about their 24 made threes and Payton Pritchard’s 32-point explosion.
But here’s the thing about the playoffs: momentum is a funny beast, and never say never, especially when a banged-up team refuses to fold. Joel Embiid’s gutsy return fuels Magic Johnson’s U-turn.
Magic isn’t the first big name to hit the brakes on a bold call. Just ask Charles Barkley, notorious for his ironclad (and often spectacularly wrong) playoff guarantees. Remember when Chuck boldly picked the Clippers to reach the Western Conference Finals “guaranteed,” only to watch them flame out early?
Or his string of East Finals predictions that went sideways? These moments remind us that even the sharpest hoops minds can get humbled when resilient squads, led by stars finding their rhythm, rewrite the script on the fly. Magic’s graceful walk-back fits right into that proud tradition of analysts owning their misses.
Joel Embiid’s gutsy return fuels Magic Johnson’s U-turn
The most significant factor in Philadelphia’s survival has been Joel Embiid’s health and conditioning. The Process made a surprise return for Game 4 just 17 days after undergoing an emergency appendectomy on April 9. While his initial return on Sunday fell flat according to critics, despite recording 26 points and 10 rebounds in a 32-point loss, Embiid looked far more mobile and commanding in Tuesday’s Game 5.
For most NBA players, a laparoscopic appendectomy typically means 2-4 weeks of recovery before even thinking about full-contact basketball, with many needing closer to a month to feel anywhere near normal in the paint. Critics panned Embiid’s initial showing (26 points and 10 rebounds in the blowout loss), but in Game 5, he looked mobile, commanding, and fully back in MVP form.
Despite a brief scare where he headed to the locker room with a potential knee issue in the third quarter, Embiid returned to the floor to orchestrate a 12-0 run. He managed to extend a tight three-point lead into a comfortable double-digit victory and kept the Sixers in the running.
He even shook off a scary third-quarter knee tweak, returned to spark a decisive 12-0 run, and turned a tight three-point edge into a comfortable double-digit win. His 33 points and 8 assists proved the perfect antidote to Jayson Tatum.
On the other side, Tatum battled through his own challenges, posting 24 points and 16 rebounds despite still working his way back from a torn Achilles suffered in last year’s playoffs.
That devastating injury sidelined him for most of the 2025-26 regular season, making his presence in this series a testament to resilience, even if he couldn’t quite find his shooting rhythm under pressure from Quentin Grimes.
He limited the Celtics to 97 despite them averaging over 120 in the last two contests, which is why the 25-year-old guard got a special shoutout from Magic for his “solid” defense.
The Celtics now find themselves in a precarious position despite Jayson Tatum’s return from his own regular-season Achilles recovery. While Boston president Brad Stevens was named NBA Executive of the Year earlier Tuesday, the accolades were overshadowed by a Philly squad that seems to have found a defensive blueprint to contain Boston’s perimeter shooting.
With Game 6 looming Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center, the Sixers are poised to push for a Game 7 and make Magic’s original prediction look even more premature.
In the NBA playoffs, counting out a team with heart, a superstar willing to play through serious pain, and a coach like Nick Nurse is a dangerous game. Magic learned that the hard way and tipped his cap like a true champion. Now Philly gets the home crowd behind them. Buckle up, this series just got must-watch.
