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BOSTON — Old habits die hard for these Celtics.
In the era of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, all too often they have let opponents off the mat, giving them life when they should be home resting for the next round. It has come back to bite them in years past, when their tendency to go away from what has worked for them all season ultimately costs them not just the game but a series.
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In Game 5 against the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night, with a chance to end the series at home, the Celtics resorted to 1-on-1 play down the stretch, reverting from the egalitarianism that has gotten them to this point, turning a 13-point third-quarter lead into a 113-97 loss. Now, the Sixers take a 3-2 series deficit home to Philadelphia.
“There’s a human element to it,” Tatum said of his team’s woes. “We’re not perfect.”
And the Sixers do have life. They have reason to believe they can win this series if only they can win a single game at home (they dropped both Games 3 and 4 in Philly).
And that reason’s name is Joel Embiid.
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Less than three weeks removed from an appendectomy, the one-time NBA MVP amassed 33 points, 8 assists and 4 rebounds over 39 minutes of Tuesday’s victory. When combined with All-NBA point guard Tyrese Maxey, who collected 25 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists, the Sixers have the firepower to match Tatum and Brown.
“He was dominant,” Maxey said of Embiid. “He did a really good job of just inserting himself. I was proud of him. That’s the dominance you go into a playoff game with.”
“I feel pretty good about my chances of going 1-on-1 with anyone in this league,” said Embiid, whose injuries held him to 38 games this year. “I don’t think I can be stopped.”
It wasn’t just Embiid’s numbers that were impressive. He was a force in the post against Boston’s big combination of Neemias Queta, Nikola Vučević and Luka Garza, and when he drew double teams, he sprayed the ball out to Philadelphia’s shooters, who were all too happy to shoot freely from the space provided by Embiid’s gravity.
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“It gave us a ton of confidence,” said…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/were-not-perfect-how-the-celtics-blew-a-golden-opportunity-and-gave-the-76ers-life-042602767.html
Author : Ben Rohrbach
Publish date : 2026-04-29 04:26:00
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