76ers vs – Joel Embiid scored 33 as Philadelphia beat Boston 113-97 in Game 5, staving off elimination. Tyrese Maxey added 25 points and 10 boards.
Joel Embiid put Philadelphia on his shoulders and the 76ers answered Boston’s urgency with their own in Game 5, beating the Celtics 113-97 to avoid elimination.
The headline was Embiid’s 33-point performance. but the bigger story was how quickly the series turned from a near-automatic goodbye to a lifeline.. Tyrese Maxey added 25 points and 10 rebounds, while Paul George contributed 16 points and nine rebounds for the seventh-seeded 76ers.. The win didn’t erase the stress of losing Games 3 and 4 at home. yet it did something just as important: it forced Boston to keep defending. keep concentrating. and keep believing this series wasn’t settled.
Philadelphia’s timing mattered.. After falling into a 13-point third-quarter deficit, the 76ers didn’t just chip away—they swung momentum.. Embiid. in only his second game back from an emergency appendectomy. scored 13 points in the second quarter and then kept pressure on Boston in each of the next frames.. He added 10 in the third and eight in the fourth. and when the fourth quarter arrived. Philadelphia’s offense suddenly looked like it had a rhythm again.
That rhythm surfaced late as the 76ers turned a three-point advantage into separation with a decisive run.. A 12-0 stretch helped flip the game. and the fourth quarter carried a sense of inevitability once Boston’s shooting faltered.. Philadelphia went on a 12-0 run after trimming back into contention. then later produced a 19-5 game-ending burst. tightening the margin beyond the reach of Boston’s comeback attempts.
Boston still had bright moments.. Jayson Tatum finished with 24 points and 16 rebounds, showing his usual blend of scoring and control on the glass.. Jaylen Brown added 22 points. and early on the Celtics looked like they were in command again. leading by 11 in the second quarter and holding a 13-point edge early in the third.
But the Celtics couldn’t maintain that distance once the 76ers found their response.. Philadelphia repeatedly narrowed the gap. including a stretch where the 76ers rallied within a basket and used a 15-3 run to make it 66-65 midway through the third.. The late exchange of leads felt contained for most of the night—until Boston’s scoring dried up in the fourth.
A key sequence followed a moment that felt like a turning point rather than just a statistic.. Sam Hauser hit two threes to keep Boston close. but when Hauser fouled Quentin Grimes while shooting a three. the free throws opened the door wider than Boston could close.. Philadelphia seized the moment. and Boston’s final-quarter struggles—scoring only 10 points on 3-of-22 shooting—turned the game from competitive to one-sided.
There’s also a wider context to what this win represents for Philadelphia.. After missing the playoffs last year following seven straight postseason appearances. the 76ers rebuilt their path the hard way. winning the play-in game to earn the No.. 7 seed.. They then looked vulnerable under playoff pressure—coasting in Game 2, but losing both home games to fall behind 3-1.. Avoiding elimination in Game 5 doesn’t just extend a series; it changes the psychological weight of every possession in the remaining games.
For Boston. the loss stings in a particular way: it comes after a season narrative that included major front-office decisions and recognition for leadership.. Celtics president Brad Stevens was named NBA Executive of the Year for the second time in three seasons. and the team’s overall trajectory—returning to the No.. 2 seed—has been shaped by strategic changes and persistence.. Yet the postseason is ruthless, and Boston’s challenge is compounded by injuries.. Tatum played only 16 regular-season games due to a torn Achilles tendon and had to carry more of the load than the Celtics likely wanted across the series.
Game 6 now shifts back to Philadelphia on Thursday night. with a chance to force a decisive Game 7 in Boston on Saturday.. The immediate question is whether Embiid’s body—still returning from an emergency appendectomy—can maintain the kind of impact that turned this game.. The longer question is whether Philadelphia can sustain the intensity that appeared in stretches: the third-quarter surge. the fourth-quarter finishing. and the defensive focus that limited Boston to a difficult endgame.
If Game 6 delivers another night where Philadelphia’s offense and Embiid’s presence line up the way they did on Tuesday, the 76ers won’t just be surviving—they’ll be swinging the series back into their control.