BOSTON – Joel Embiid, notorious for his late-night media availabilities, had run out of time to celebrate by the time he arrived at the visiting podium.

Embiid repeated a line Sixers head coach Nick Nurse told his team shortly after 10 p.m. in Boston: The players had until midnight to enjoy their Game 7 victory and 3-1 series comeback over the Boston Celtics. Then, the focus shifts to the New York Knicks. Game 1 at Madison Square Garden is on Monday night.

Embiid did not want to dive into the personal significance the last six days have carried for him. There is a bigger picture in mind, and Embiid wants to win three more rounds. But this meant more than the average playoff victory, whether Embiid wanted to acknowledge it or not.

In the latest Sixers soundbites, everything Embiid had to say after Game 7:

• Embiid on how rewarding this series victory was given his history against the Celtics, his injuries over the last three seasons and his appendicitis diagnosis from just a few weeks ago:

"Just locking in. Obviously, I've played these guys for so long now, so you know what they do, and they kind of know what we do. So obviously coming back down 3-1 is tough. I understand it because we just did it. And then obviously missing three of those games – and really four, because the first game was kind of just me getting back to myself. It's tough. But it feels good to win. Obviously we've got a bigger goal in mind, but finally beating these guys felt pretty good."

• Embiid on moving on to New York:

"What time is it? I mean, I have until midnight to celebrate, so it's past midnight, so it's over with. Felt good, only the first time. One series down, got more to go. Now the focus is on New York, seeing what they do best. Really good freaking team, so we've just got to go out – especially in the Garden. Garden's going to be fun, so that's exciting."

• Embiid, with a smile, on how his body is feeling and how he felt as the series progressed:

"I felt great. Felt amazing. Yeah. I was faking it."

MORE: Embiid, Maxey lead Sixers team with bond that 'feels pretty different' in Game 7

• Embiid on his outfit and whether or not it was inspired by a famous picture of LeBron James before the Cleveland Cavaliers completed a 3-1 comeback in the 2016 NBA Finals:

"No. I mean, I always wear these earphones anyways. I guess it just happened to be a coincidence. I guess I got shown the pictures. I know I'm not always [wearing] shades, but I felt like it would be good to come out in Boston and beat them. So wanting to dress all black. I think it was just a coincidence. But I mean, if you want to compare that to what he did, that was amazing what he did. I think it was just a coincidence."

• Embiid on VJ Edgecombe's performance:

"Man, VJ is great. Doesn't always get the ball, especially when everybody's available, but he's willing to do whatever it takes to win. He was big for us tonight, especially starting the game, being on the [glass], shooting the ball, having that confidence, tonight he had that. And then obviously defensively, Derrick White had it going in the first half and taking on the challenge of, you know, you're not scoring. Understanding that that's the guy that has it going and wanting the challenge – I know he's a rookie, but his mind is so much ahead."

• Embiid on what it means to him to have a supporting cast including Tyrese Maxey, Paul George and Edgecombe:

"It's huge. Obviously over the years –there's no shade towards anybody that has played in this organization – I've always taken the blame for everything that's happened, situation that we're in. Sometimes I've been in those positions where I come up short, and that's fine. But to be in a position where you know you can relax one or two possessions because you trust the guys... It means a lot. I've always said it: you can't win alone. So you need a team to be able to win and everybody doing their job. I think the way we're playing right now is [so] insane offensively, defensively; I think guys understand what they have to do, and that's beautiful to see. And that's what I've always wanted: playing winning basketball, sharing the ball, defensively everybody being locked in on what they have to do, and that's how we win."

• Embiid on winning his first Game 7, including a shot at Celtics guard Payton Pritchard:

"I felt good, obviously I was 0-3 in Game 7. So just wanted to bring the energy tonight. It does also help when – I saw number 11 on their team, before I came back, he said they didn't care if I was playing or not and they hadn't even adjusted or had some solid game plan around me. So I think it also helps when the other team doesn't worry about you and have some solid game plan, being prepared for you, so it helps you have better games. So I thank number 11 for that. But feels good to come out and get this win."

• Embiid on his expectations for the upcoming series against the Knicks:

"Like I said, obviously we move on to the next one. New York, played them a couple years ago, good series. Ended up in six. I had a lot going on at that time, so hopefully everything is good this time. So I'm excited... It's going to be a fun series. The Garden. I just have a message for our fans: last time we played the Knicks, it felt like [our arena] was Madison Square Garden East, so we're going to need your support. Don't sell your tickets. This is bigger than you. We need you guys. The atmosphere that we've had the last couple games in Philly, especially the last one pushing it to Game 7, we need all of it. I don't care if it's 70/30. Knicks fans, they travel, they're going to buy tickets and there's going to be some people that needed money that are probably going to sell tickets. But don't do it. We need you guys. We've got a pretty good chance. We're going to need your support. We're going to need them to be extremely loud. And if you need money, I got you."

MORE: Key plays and performances Sixers needed to win Game 7

• Embiid on what he feels the Sixers did as a group behind the scenes to get in sync after a Game 4 blowout loss:

"Professionals, understanding what's at stake. I think we found something with Boston. I don't know why we didn't find that earlier, but we did a lot of over-helping in the first four games of that series. I think we just locked in. Credit to VJ, Kelly [Oubre Jr.], [Paul George], [Quentin Grimes]. I mean, those guys are locked in. You can't execute that game plan of helping your teammates if whoever is on the ball doesn't do his job. And those guys really took a challenge on guarding those guys, whether it's [Jayson] Tatum, or Pritchard – uh, number 11 – [Jaylen] Brown. It helps when you have that. That means you cant over-help. You can just do your job. And obviously knowing Boston, they kind of live and die by the three, so you take that away and I told the guys, if we want to go twos for twos against them, we're going to win that battle, because we have a lot of mismatches, starting with me. So I think just locking in on that, understanding what we had to do gameplan-wise, and actually executing. But it starts with guarding the ball, and the guys did that."

• Embiid on how the Sixers' off-court camaraderie contributes to their on-court performance

"No shade to the guys that have played here, but yeah, this is different. The fight is just there. I mean, I've been part of – some of those teams, it might have looked like I didn't want to fight, but I'll play through everything. So I want to fight, I want to win. But it's just not the talk, it's the execution. Like, 'We're going to fight, we're going to go out there and do whatever it takes.' And that makes it easy for the next one to come in and do his job, starting with me. Keep fighting. Coming back from what I had, you've got to come in and give what you've got, but it's everybody else just doing their job. We've had good teams, but this feels pretty different. So I think as long as we stat healthy, whatever game plan we have in the Knicks series, we execute it, we have a pretty good chance."

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