The Philadelphia 76ers comfortably handled the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series Tuesday, taking a 3-2 series lead with a 115-103 win. Here’s what you need to know:
- Joel Embiid led the 76ers with 33 points, one of five Philadelphia players to score in double figures, adding seven rebounds. Tyrese Maxey scored 30 points as the team shot 50.6 percent from the field.
- Boston’s Jayson Tatum led all scorers with 36 points on 11-of-27 shooting (3-of-11 from 3-point range); he went 11-for-13 from the free-throw line. Jaylen Brown had 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting.
- The 76ers edged out the Celtics 116-115 in Game 4 on Sunday. Game 6 is Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET in Philadelphia.
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
What went wrong for Celtics
In the biggest game of the season, the Celtics laid a dud. Their bad outside shooting would present an easy excuse but the problems went far beyond that.
They committed a long list of dumb fouls. Tatum took too much time to get going. Al Horford missed all seven of his 3-point attempts. The team forced 13 turnovers, but several came late in the fourth quarter while the end of the bench put together a meaningless run.
The Celtics weren’t able to stop any of Philadelphia’s leading scorers from having big, efficient nights. They were booed off the court by the Boston crowd. — King
Boston’s uninspired performance
The Celtics have always done things on the fly this year. It’s all been about preparation and improvisation, with just the right balance of creators and shot-makers to make it work on a nightly basis. But they were flat, cold, and seemingly out of gas. The only time they looked like themselves for more than a minute was when Joe Mazzulla sent in the garbage time unit.
This team had the upper hand in this series and fumbled it away multiple times, then looked shell-shocked when the Sixers were finally at full strength tonight. They had no answers for Embiid’s low post offense and transition defense finally returning to strong form. Maxey kept cooking everyone the Celtics threw at him.
This was the worst the Celtics had to offer in the biggest moment of the season. As Mazzulla said, it was their first really bad game of the playoffs. — Weiss
Philly’s unprecedented win
This was an unprecedented win for the Sixers. According to Sports Reference, they have never won a Game 5 on the road ever. And to do it on the road in their personal house of horrors, in relatively easy fashion, was not the expected script coming into the game. Doc Rivers called Embiid’s performance “professional,” and that sums it up for the entire team. The Celtics missed shots, particularly from beyond the arc, but the Sixers’ execution was crisper. James Harden and Maxey continually found Embiid in the pick-and-roll. And Maxey submitted his best game of the series, a 30-point effort.
Now the Sixers, massive underdogs in this series, are a home game away from having homecourt advantage through the NBA Finals. Thursday’s Game 6, which will not see the Celtics go away quietly, sets up as perhaps the most important game of the Process era. — Hofmann
There are many heroes for the Sixers, but there was no one unlikelier than Danuel House Jr. Completely out of the rotation for this series, House Jr. had played just eight minutes for the Sixers in a Game 2 Celtics blowout at TD Garden. Touted as an important signing by the Sixers (they even got docked draft picks for tampering to sign him!), House Jr. has largely found himself out of the rotation for most of the season. He had been considered a disappointing free-agent signing.
But in Game 5, Rivers surprisingly called on House Jr. and he delivered in a big way: 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting, five rebounds and energy on the defensive end. House Jr. has played in big games with Harden before, and it showed. To make a deep playoff run, unlikely heroes often step up at important moments. If the Sixers finish off Boston (still a big if, with a hungry Celtics team coming to Philly on Thursday), this might be known in Philadelphia as The Danuel House Jr. Game. — Hofmann
Highlight of the game
Key stat
The Celtics are 37-8 (.822) in the regular season when Tatum and Brown combine for 60 points, per ESPN Stats & Info. They’re now 5-4 (.555) when the duo combines for 60 or more in the playoffs.
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(Photo: Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE via Getty Images)
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