By: Letian Zou

The Philadelphia 76ers were provided a chance to advance into the second round of the playoff series. They showed a convincing win during game 5 of the series with a score of 115-103. The two all-stars on the team, Joel Embiid, and James Harden, had scored a total of 76 points. Although game 5 was an important win, their winning streak had not started there.

The 76ers had a good start in the regular season with a 54-28 record, making them the third seed in the east. They wiped out the first round of the playoffs against the Brooklyn Nets with 4-0 in the best-of-7 series. After getting an easy win against the Nets, they were up against the Boston Celtics who also had an easy win in their first series. The first three games of the series were trading wins, and the 76ers came out with a 1-2 start.

Before the start of game 4, Doc River, the head basketball coach of the 76ers, had texted James Harden a seven-minute gospel called “You Know My Name.” During an interview with Harden after the game, he said, “I’m on my way to the game, and I got a text from Doc.” He continued, “It’s a gospel song, and I’m like, ‘All right, whatever.’ So, I just tell my homies, ‘Let’s play the song.’ It’s a seven-minute song, but I let the whole song play. I was like, ‘All right, there’s got to be some kind of good juju in this song, or however he’s feeling, and I want to feel like that.’ And I guess it worked.”

Although the gospel was a big part of their motivation, Harden had also promised a survivor of the Michigan State shooting, John Hao, that he would be able to attend one of their games after he had recovered. Harden dropped 42 points that Sunday in front of Hao, who was paralyzed after an unfortunate incident.

Although the 76ers gave a good effort to try and come back and win the series, the Celtics eliminated them in game 7 with a blowout of 88-112. Which brings them to the eastern conference finals.