BOSTON — Joel Embiid shook his coach’s hand and pumped his fist and then half-walked, half-limped toward midcourt and wrapped his arms around Jaylen Brown. He pulled the Boston Celtics superstar in close and whispered something into his ear. Soon, his son was in his arms, and the cameras were all around him and he was smiling and shrugging and trying to make sense of the most improbable and ...

From left, the Philadelphia 76 ers' Joel Embiid, VJ Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey carried the team back from a three-games-to-one deficit against the Boston Celtics to advance to the second round.

Monica Herndon/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

BOSTON — Joel Embiid shook his coach’s hand and pumped his fist and then half-walked, half-limped toward midcourt and wrapped his arms around Jaylen Brown. He pulled the Boston Celtics superstar in close and whispered something into his ear. Soon, his son was in his arms, and the cameras were all around him and he was smiling and shrugging and trying to make sense of the most improbable and glorious moment of his career.

Barely a week removed from entering the postseason cold off a 17-day layoff, roughly four weeks after an emergency appendectomy seemed likely to end his season, less than a week after the Celtics took a series lead they’d never before squandered, Embiid and the Sixers somehow were still standing. The concrete credit goes to a 109-100 victory in a bruising Game 7 at TD Garden. On a more abstract level, it goes to a level of resilience we’ve rarely seen from these Sixers, one that should force some reexamination of who we believe Embiid is.

Whatever happens from here, Embiid and the Sixers have accomplished something significant, something defining. This was a signature individual performance and a signature team victory unlike any that Embiid has delivered in his decade-plus in town. The Celtics had never lost a series where they’d led three games to one. Embiid had never before won a Game 7 in three previous tries. He entered this postseason having lost seven of the 10 elimination games he’d faced.

Yes, the moment belonged to Embiid. But the victory belonged to all of them.

That’s not something you have often been able to say about the Sixers in their biggest games of the Embiid era. Look back through all the postseasons, at all of the different incarnations of the roster, the micro-eras of disappointment — you’ll struggle to find a playoff win in which the Sixers looked this cohesive. They made the right pass at the right time. They made the extra one when required. Four Sixers finished with at least four assists, which hadn’t happened since Game 2 of the 2019 Eastern Conference semifinals.

Although Embiid led the way with 34 points on 12-of-26 shooting, he by no means shouldered a singular load. The Sixers had gone 10 straight playoff victories without three players finishing with 20-plus points. In Game 7, Tyrese Maxey had 30. VJ Edgecombe had 23. The young duo combined to hit 19 of 35 shots, including 7 of 15 from 3-point range.

Defensively, the Sixers stifled the Celtics in the first quarter and then weathered a number of storms, including 18-4 runs that eliminated Sixers leads of 13 and 18. They had their defining moment in the biggest spot, holding Boston to three points in the last five minutes of the game.

Slice up the credit and distribute it in even shares.

To Paul George, who knocked down a trio of 3-pointers, including a step-back shot over tight coverage with just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter to give the Sixers a 79-66 lead.

To Edgecombe, who hit five threes on 11 attempts after making just 4 of 23 in his previous four games.

To Maxey, who continued to show himself to be the superstar you want to get going when the going gets tough.

Most of all, to Embiid. He set the tone early, opening the game with five assists in a first quarter in which he also scored 10 points. At one point, he or Maxey had assisted on 10 of the Sixers’ 12 makes. He spent the rest of the night helping steady the Sixers through adversity, some of it self-inflicted. A turnover late in the fourth quarter in a one-possession game. A dead-ball technical that spotted the Celtics a free point. Each time, he responded.

Midway through he third quarter, Embiid backed down Brown, turned as if to shoot, then, at the last second, kicked a pass out to Edgecombe, who swung a pass to Maxey for an open 3-pointer that gave the Sixers a 68-58 lead. The next time down the court, Embiid answered a Brown 3-pointer by backing him down and hitting a one-hander.

It was a sequence that encapsulated Embiid’s performance over the last several games.

Celtics star Jayson Tatum’s absence from Game 7 shouldn’t diminish what the Sixers or Embiid accomplished in this series. This was something special.