Joel Embiid tallied his final dunk of the season, even with the 76ers home.
The 76ers center threw shade at the Bucks for trading away Jrue Holiday, who has the Celtics one victory away from their 18th NBA championship after Wednesday’s Game 3 win over the Mavericks.
Holiday is averaging 15.7 points and playing stellar defense in the NBA Finals.
“Did the Bucks give them the championship?” Embiid tweeted late Wednesday night as the Celtics topped the Mavs, 106-99.
The Celtics would perhaps not be in the position they are had the Bucks not moved on from Holiday in favor of Damian Lillard last offseason.
After falling in the first round to the Heat in the 2023 playoffs, the Bucks decided that Lillard, not Holiday, gave them a better chance at a title.
They sent Holiday to the Blazers in a three-team trade that netted them Holiday.
Holiday, who won a championship with the Bucks in 2021, had said he wanted to retire with Milwaukee.
The Celtics then swooped in and took advantage of the situation, grabbing Holiday from the Blazers for two first-round picks and two players.
That cost seems quite minimal since Holiday may deliver Boston its first championship since 2008.
Holiday is averaging 13.1 points, six rebounds and 4.5 assists this postseason, as Boston has gone 15-2 and is making easy work of the Mavericks.
The 34-year-old has posted a plus-27 rating in the NBA Finals while preventing Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving from taking over the series.
He scored 26 points in Game 2 before adding nine in Wednesday’s win at American Airlines Center in Dallas.
As Holiday has helped the Celtics, the Bucks can only be left wondering whether they made the wrong decision. Their quest to return to the Finals may actually have aided another team’s title run.
Holliday performed fine for Milwaukee, but with Giannis Antetokounmpo sidelined, the Bucks lost to a lower-seeded team in the first round for the second straight year.
While the trade did not directly affect Embiid since the Knicks ousted the 76ers in the first round of the 2024 playoffs, it’s clear he believes the Celtics made a great trade and the Bucks messed up.
Boston can close out the series in Game 4 on Friday in Dallas.