PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Joel Embiid made a surprise return to the starting lineup for the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday night and received a roaring ovation in pregame introductions for Game 4 of their first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics only 17 days after having an appendectomy.
Embiid wasted little time scoring in his first game since April 6. The two-time NBA scoring champion — who hoped to spark a Sixers team that trails 2-1 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference series — sank two free throws for the Sixers' first points of the game, added a monster two-handed jam and scored the team's first eight points.
Embiid was listed as doubtful to start the day and was upgraded to questionable about 90 minutes before the scheduled tipoff. Embiid returned to the court wearing a protective brace around his midsection, and was cleared to play about 40 minutes before the start of Game 4.
The 32-year-old Embiid averaged 26.9 points and 7.7 rebounds this season after playing in only 19 games in 2024-25. He hasn’t appeared in as many as 40 games in a regular season since 2022-23, when he averaged a career-best 33.1 points and earned MVP honors.
Embiid had an appendectomy in Houston on April 9 after Philadelphia’s star big man was stricken with appendicitis overnight.
Of course, it's unclear just how productive or how long Embiid could play in Game 4. Sixers coach Nick Nurse had no answers ahead of the game to both of those questions, but it's clear the 2023 NBA MVP should at least provide an emotional lift to a Sixers team that was a 7 1/2-point home underdog to the Celtics, according to oddsmakers.
The Celtics won Game 1 by 32 points and the Sixers responded with a surprise 111-97 win in Boston in Game 2. Tyrese Maxey scored 31 points and shot the Sixers into a fourth-quarter lead in Game 3 before Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown took over down the stretch for the Celtics in a 108-100 victory.
Embiid joined Maxey, rookie standout VJ Edgecombe, Paul George and Kelly Oubre Jr. in the starting lineup.
Embiid's absence in the play-in tournament win over Orlando and the first three playoff games against Boston continues a trend of injury-plagued postseasons.
Such as:
In 2024, Embiid played in the playoffs through a bout with Bell’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis. He wore sunglasses to the podium after he scored 50 points in the Sixers’ Game 3 win over the Knicks and said at the time he was dealing with various symptoms such as blurred vision and dry eyes.
A year earlier, Embiid missed a playoff game in two series because of a sprained right knee.
In 2022, the Sixers won 51 games under coach Doc Rivers and had a great chance at a deep playoff run until Embiid suffered a right orbital fracture and a concussion when he was hit in the face by Toronto’s Pascal Siakam. He also suffered a torn ligament in his right thumb. Embiid missed two games in a second-round series against Miami. The Sixers lost both games and the series, 4-2.
Embiid missed one game in the 2021 playoffs with a torn meniscus in his right knee.
Embiid missed one playoff game in 2019 and two in 2018 with injuries.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Boston Celtics' Neemias Queta, left, cannot get a shot past Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid during the first half of Game 4 in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid reacts during the first half of Game 4 against the Boston Celtics in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid goes up for a dunk during the first half of Game 4 against the Boston Celtics in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
THE ATACAMA DESERT, Chile (AP) — It takes a moment for the eyes to adjust. A faint spark appears in the darkness; then another, brighter one. Soon, stars, planets and entire constellations emerge. Before long, a whole galaxy stretches across the sky, visible to the naked eye.
In Chile’s Atacama Desert, the night sky feels infinite. Considered the driest place on Earth, its darkness is also one of the clearest windows to the universe.
A rare combination of dry climate, high altitude and, crucially, isolation from urban light pollution, makes the Atacama an unrivaled hub for world-class astronomy and home to the world’s largest ground-based astronomical projects.
“The conditions in the Atacama Desert are unique in the world,” said Chiara Mazzucchelli, president of the Chilean Astronomical Society. “There are more than 300 clear nights per year, meaning no clouds and no rain.”
But the world's darkest skies may be at risk.
Last year, the desert became a battleground between scientists and an energy firm proposing a green power complex just kilometers (miles) from the Paranal Observatory. Managed by the European Southern Observatory, ESO, the site also is the future home to what is to be the most powerful optical telescope ever built.
Although the energy project was canceled in January following a massive appeal from astronomers, physicists and Nobel laureates, it exposed deep concerns that existing sky preservation laws are lax, outdated and unclear. Since then, several environmental regulations have come under review, including one from Chile's science ministry targeting protected astronomical zones.
“We are working to ensure the new criteria are strict enough to guarantee that there will be no impact on astronomical areas,” said Daniela González, director of the Cielos de Chile Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 2019 to protect the quality of Chile’s night skies.
The Associated Press spent three days visiting the Paranal facilities in the heart of the so-called Photon Valley. In this high-altitude corridor, several observatories operate side by side using some of the most sophisticated instruments ever engineered.
“Many of these large facilities are located in Chile, and ESO's telescopes in particular are the most powerful astronomical facilities on the planet,” said Itziar de Gregorio-Monsalvo, the intergovernmental organization’s representative in Chile.
Paranal is one of nearly 30 astronomical sites in northern Chile, most of which are managed by international organizations. Every year, the Atacama Desert draws thousands of astronomers and scientists from around the world to investigate the origins of the universe.
“We are lucky to be here,” said Julia Bodensteiner, an assistant professor at University of Amsterdam, noting that the chances of being selected as a visiting astronomer at Paranal are just 20% to 30%.
Walking across the Atacama's rocky, uneven terrain is no easy task. At altitudes exceeding 3,000 meters (10,000 feet), oxygen becomes a luxury, while scorching days give way to relentlessly cold nights. But for space observation and exploration, these more than 105,000 square kilometers (40,500 square miles) of desert are the perfect setting.
The exceptional conditions of the Atacama have enabled some of the most ambitious astronomical projects ever conceived, like the Extremely Large Telescope, ELT — a $1.5 billion endeavor by ESO scheduled for completion in 2030.
With 798 mirrors and a light-gathering area of nearly 1,000 square meters (a quarter of an acre), the ELT will be 20 times more powerful than today’s leading telescopes and 15 times sharper than NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.
All the data compiled at these observatories play a fundamental role not only for life on Earth, but also for the possibilities of its development beyond our planet. Preserving these research spots is essential.
With the ELT, said ESO astronomer Lucas Bordone, “we should be able to see Earth-like planets in what we call the habitable zone, so basically the planets which are candidates towards life.”
Twenty years ago, the Atacama Desert was “an ocean of darkness,” recalled Eduardo Unda-Sanzana, director of the Astronomy Center at the University of Antofagasta. “It was just you and the universe.”
Over the years, however, the landscape has changed drastically.
Driven by urban sprawl, industrial development, and the arrival of mining and wind farms, the desert has become a coveted territory where balance is not always easy to reach.
In Paranal, specialists live like moles in an underground residence designed to keep their presence almost undetectable. Windows must remain covered, hallways stay dark, and any outside movement is guided only by flashlight. Even the faintest light can interfere with the telescopes.
The announcement last year of an imminent green energy project sent shock waves through the international scientific community. Experts pressured authorities to protect Chile’s night sky from the proposed site, which was slated for construction just 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Paranal.
The case raised the alarms due to its impacts, such as increased light pollution, micro-vibrations and dust, as well as greater atmospheric turbulence. These conditions would make astronomical activities unviable.
“If you place the ELT next to a city, it doesn’t matter that its diameter is 40 meters long. It’s just the same as having a tiny telescope,” Gregorio-Monsalvo said.
Although the company canceled the project in late January, scientists warn that without new, updated regulations, similar projects could be proposed at any moment.
“Despite all the media hype in 2025, we find ourselves exactly where we were last year,” said Unda-Sanzana, who is also part of a ministerial advisory commission that recently delivered recommendations to Chile’s government following the incident.
There is no shortage of precedents. The first international heliophysics observatory in Chile — a major solar station operated by the U.S. Smithsonian Institution in the early 20th century — was forced to shut down operations in 1955 due to environmental pollution caused by the expansion of mining activity in the area.
“We’ve had 70 years to learn from history and avoid repeating those same mistakes,” Unda-Sanzana said.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
The Milky Way stretches across the night sky as seen from the Atacama Desert, Chile, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Workers depart after a night's work at the European Southern Observatory's Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert, Chile, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Workers operate equipment at the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), under construction by the European Southern Observatory, in Atacama Desert, Chile, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
The Paranal Observatory operated by European Southern Observatory stands in the Atacama Desert, Chile, Tuesday, April 14, 2026.(AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
The Milky Way stretches across the night sky as seen from the Atacama Desert, Chile, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Astronomers are silhouetted against the sunset sky at Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert, Chile, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), under construction by the European Southern Observatory, dots the horizon in the Atacama Desert, Chile, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
An operator looks at a Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory operated by the European Southern Observatory in the Atacama Desert, Chile, Monday, April 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
An Extremely Large Telescope is under construction by the European Southern Observatory, in the Atacama Desert, Chile, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
The Milky Way stretches across the night sky as seen from the Atacama Desert, Chile, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
