Front-running Celtics fans leave game 5 early as Joel Embiid completely silences the Boston Garden

I need to address something before I even get into last night’s game. This is directed at every single Celtics fan who showed up in my comments after Game 4.

After the Sixers got embarrassed by 32 points at Xfinity Mobile Arena, I posted a video leaving the arena. That video has almost 200,000 views on Instagram. My comments section was wall-to-wall Boston fans. Laughing at me. Trolling me. Telling me the series is over. Telling me to go home. Telling me the Sixers are a joke and Embiid should retire and Philly is a poverty franchise.

Every single one of them felt real comfortable kicking a guy while he was down after watching their team blow out a squad missing its best player for three weeks.

My comments section after Game 5? Crickets. Dead silent. Every single one of those tough guys disappeared like they were never there. Gone. Vanished. Not a word. Not a peep. Two hundred thousand views worth of Celtics fans who suddenly had nothing to say after Joel Embiid walked into their building and dropped 33 on their heads.

WATCH: Celtics fans leave Game 5 early

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Bandwagon behavior. Front-runner behavior. That’s what it is and that’s what it has always been with Boston fans. They show up when their team is winning by 30 and they evaporate the second things get uncomfortable.

Half the Celtics fans in TD Garden were heading for the exits before the final buzzer last night after Boston scored just 11 points in the fourth quarter. Eleven points. In a playoff game. At home. Their own fans couldn’t even be bothered to stick around for the finish.

Let me say something that Philadelphia sports fans have known for a very long time. Boston fans do not compare to this city.

Not even close. Most of them aren’t even from Boston. They’re front-runners who latch onto whichever team is winning and disappear when things get hard. Philadelphia fans sit through 10-game losing streaks and 8-19 starts and still show up the next night. That’s the difference and it will always be the difference.

Joel Embiid Is Built Different and I Will Not Hear Otherwise

Less than three weeks after emergency appendectomy surgery, Joel Embiid went into TD Garden and dropped 33 points and eight assists in a 113-97 win that kept this season alive. Thirty-three points. Coming off appendix surgery. In an elimination game. On the road. Against the two seed.

He logged 39 minutes. He took a knee-to-knee collision in the third quarter that sent him limping to the locker room. He came right back out and kept dominating because that is who Joel Embiid is. That is who he has always been.

The man plays through things that would end most people’s seasons without a second thought. Anyone who questions his toughness or his heart after what he did Tuesday night should never be allowed to talk about basketball again.

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He logged 39 minutes, took a knee-to-knee collision in the third quarter that sent him limping to the locker room, and came right back out. Because that is who Joel Embiid is. That is who he has always been. The man plays through things that would end most people’s seasons without a second thought.

The Series Isn’t Over

Down 3-1 a few days ago. Back to 3-2 now with Game 6 coming home to Philly on Thursday night. Maxey said it best after the game. “Our fans deserve a win at home. After that performance that we put on last time in front of our fans, that was a disgrace and it was unacceptable.”

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He’s right. Game 4 at home was an embarrassment that the players, the coaches, and the fans all want to bury. Now Embiid has another full game of playoff reps under his belt heading into a building that is going to be absolutely electric Thursday night.

The Celtics had every opportunity to close this series out in Boston and they couldn’t do it. Now they have to come back to Philadelphia where the Sixers have a crowd that is going to be louder and more desperate than anything TD Garden produced in five games.

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The trolls in my comments went quiet. The series is alive. Joel Embiid refused to let it end. I want all the smoke. I’m ready for war. I was born ready for this.

For all the Celtics fans who mocked the “We Want Boston” chants after the play-in game, the fact of the matter is simple. We most definitely want Boston. We wanted Boston then. We want Boston now. We’ll want Boston on Thursday night when Embiid takes the floor at Xfinity Mobile Arena and this building shakes for 48 minutes.

Come to Philly. See what happens.

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