Joel Embiid delivered 33 points and distributed eight assists as Philadelphia defeated Boston 113-97 in Tuesday’s Game 5, keeping the 76ers’ playoff hopes alive in their Eastern Conference first-round matchup.
The star center, who sat out the series’ opening three games due to appendix surgery, briefly left the contest with what appeared to be a knee problem at the 4:35 mark of the third quarter, but made his way back onto the court with two minutes remaining in that period.
“Obviously he was very, very good,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said. “Give him credit. He worked really hard to get back through the procedure that he had. Played a lot of minutes. I was super-impressed with him on the defensive end tonight.”
Tyrese Maxey contributed 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Philadelphia, the series’ seventh seed, which trailed by one point heading into the final quarter before dominating Boston 28-11 in those closing 12 minutes. Paul George recorded 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists as the 76ers narrowed the best-of-seven series gap to 3-2.
Boston’s second-seeded squad got 24 points and 16 rebounds from Jayson Tatum, while Jaylen Brown contributed 22 points. Neemias Queta posted eight points and 14 rebounds. The Celtics managed just 36 successful shots on 89 attempts from the floor.
“I mean it’s disappointing,” Boston’s Payton Pritchard said. “Every game you lose in the playoffs is disappointing. But the playoffs is life of its own. You never know when you’re gonna get it done, so you gotta move on and get ready for (Game 6 on) Thursday. … We don’t have time to dwell on it. We’ve got to go to Philly tomorrow and get ready for Thursday.”
Boston claimed its first lead when Brown scored a layup making it 16-15 with 2:59 left in the opening quarter. The Celtics held a 23-21 advantage after one period.
The home team expanded their margin to 42-31 following a Tatum three-pointer, but Philadelphia rallied to within two points at 50-48 after Maxey connected from beyond the arc with 2:10 left before halftime. Boston responded with seven consecutive points and took a 57-50 lead into the break.
Early in the third quarter, the Celtics pushed their advantage to 13 points at 63-50, but a VJ Edgecombe three-pointer brought Philadelphia within striking distance at 66-65 with 6:37 remaining in the period. Boston maintained an 86-85 edge entering the fourth quarter.
The 76ers seized control with an 88-86 lead on George’s three-pointer early in the final period, eventually building their biggest advantage when Edgecombe hit another three-pointer for a 109-94 margin with 2:25 left on the clock.
Boston struggled mightily in the fourth quarter, converting only three of 22 field goal attempts.
“Just missed some shots,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. “I thought we got some good looks. Weren’t able to capitalize on them.”
“We were able to execute what we wanted to do defensively — weren’t blowing assignments and guarded hard,” Nurse said of his team’s fourth-quarter performance. “Everybody did a good job of guarding their man. … We knew we needed to do a better job on the defensive end.”
