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Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Three stars from Thursday's NBA playoff games: Reigning MVP returns to dominance

By Sean Keane | Last updated 4/26/24

After two teams found new playoff life and the Lakers looked on the brink of death, here are the three stars from Thursday night's NBA playoff games.

Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers

50 points, eight rebounds, four assists, five three-pointers, 19-21 FT in Philadelphia's 125-114 win over the New York Knicks

Joel Embiid is battling Bell's palsy and recovering from a torn meniscus, leading a team that's turned over half of its roster this year and one coming off a gut-punch loss Monday. What better time for Embiid to put up a 50-piece, blowing past his previous career playoff high of 40. He made three-pointers. He scored inside. He got to the free-throw line for 21 attempts and he made 19 of them.

One game after declaring "We're going to win this series...we're the better team," Embiid went out and backed it up, and brought the Sixers to 2-1.

Joel Embiid: "We're gonna win this series…. We know what we've got to fix…. We're the better team and we're gonna keep fighting." pic.twitter.com/uSAEBoyr12
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) April 23, 2024

Paolo Banchero, Orlando Magic

31 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, four three-pointers in Orlando's 121-83 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers

Banchero came up huge in just his third career playoff game. The Magic weren't scoring in the first two games of the series and the second-year All-Star decided to carry the load in Game Three. He took 26 shots, making half of them, including four from deep. But what was most impressive about the Banchero and his fellow young star, Franz Wagner, was the two combining for 13 assists.

He joined some elite company with his stat line at just age 21.

Paolo Banchero becomes the 4th player in NBA history to tally 30 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists in a playoff game at age 21 or younger, joining:

LeBron James (3x)
Luka Doncic
Magic Johnson#NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel pic.twitter.com/oumafuXGYt
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) April 26, 2024

Aaron Gordon, Denver Nuggets

29 points, 15 rebounds, five offensive in Denver 112-105 win over the Los Angeles Lakers

Usually a guy who is one of the best dunkers in the world isn't also the guy who does dirty work and makes a million hustle plays. But that was Aaron Gordon Thursday night in Game Three against the Los Angeles Lakers, grabbing offensive rebounds, guarding Anthony Davis and LeBron James while still finding time for dunks.

Nuggets get on the break and AG finishes with the slam... Denver takes an 8-point lead after going down 12 earlier in the game

DEN-LAL 3Q on TNT pic.twitter.com/6HgCPMFPU4
— NBA (@NBA) April 26, 2024

He even iced the game by making 5-of-6 free throws when the Lakers repeatedly fouled him down the stretch. It felt like he simply exhausted the Lakers by running the floor, crashing the boards and always getting back on defense. Anthony Davis finished with 33 points, but after 36 minutes of Gordon, he scored only three in the final quarter.

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