April 28, 2026
David Butler II/Imagn Images
Joel Embiid returned to his favorite road playoff environment on Tuesday night.
With their backs against the wall after an embarrassing blowout loss on their home floor in Game 4, multiple Sixers talked about needing to head back to Boston and play with desperation against the Celtics. "The tactical stuff isn't going to mean anything," Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said, "if we're not going to play with better energy, toughness and rebounding."
On Tuesday night, Nurse's team came through. The Sixers beat the Celtics, 113-97, notching their second win in three tries at TD Garden and ensuring the series would return to Xfinity Mobile Arena. Joel Embiid shook off a slow start, clearly laboring and still only 19 days removed from his appendectomy, to help drive quality offense as the game went on. A renewed defensive spirit helped the Sixers stick around while both teams went cold from beyond the arc.
In the second half, the Sixers' improved offensive process – built around Embiid's forceful punishment of any defenders asked to guard him one-on-one – broke them out. Embiid made life easier for everyone. Quentin Grimes finally left his mark on the series, playing a fantastic two-way basketball game. As the Sixers found their stride, the Celtics did the opposite. Boston scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, their lowest-scoring frame of the entire season. Some of it was self-inflicted, but much of it was caused by the Sixers' intensity.
A rarity this season: the Sixers completely outworked their opponents and earned a win with their effort. Takeaways from the Sixers' fight to live another day...
Embiid started Tuesday's game showing an unusual focus on long-range shooting. He attempted four early triples and none of them connected. His start to the game was very slow, literally and figuratively. While Embiid was at the center of the Sixers' offensive troubles in the first quarter, his team was able to bunker down defensively and get enough stops to stay right in it.
After yet another troublesome Andre Drummond stint, Embiid returned to the game despite only getting three minutes of rest to end the first quarter. He gradually came closer and closer to playing around the rim, until finally one of the best post players of a generation was routinely backing down smaller bodies.
Suddenly, a Sixers offense that for so much of this series has struggled to create genuine advantages was putting Boston's defense in binds. It was not perfect, because nothing is ever perfect, but for Nurse, it is much easier to coordinate an offense with someone drawing as much attention as Embiid:
This is the idea for the Sixers to halve Joel Embiid elevate them in the half court, on them to hit the right notes to find the blend.
— Steve Jones (@stevejones20) April 28, 2026
-Post up, spin, scores
-Next post up, gets doubled, good look from 3
-Gets Pritchard on a switch, double, Grimes drives into traffic pic.twitter.com/MiCarcrLaH
Suddenly, it became a tale as old as time: Embiid forcing a defense to cover him one-on-one or leave somebody open. Embiid was not knocking down tons of shots, but Nurse smartly ran an offense featuring deep touches for him as much as possible. Suddenly, even without lots of points to show for it yet, the Sixers had juice on that end of the floor. It was not clear in the box score, but the Sixers were playing with a level of intent and decisiveness that has been rare for them over the last few months.
It eventually came around for them, with the force multiplier that is Embiid creating opportunities for others. He finally got going himself in the third quarter. Celtics starting center Neemias Queta has spent this entire series in foul trouble, and Embiid once again got him sent to the bench and then punished Nikola Vučević, a particularly vulnerable option when it comes to defending the former NBA MVP.
Boston opened up a game-high 13-point lead in the opening minutes of the third quarter, but Embiid led a 15-3 run in response. From then on, the Sixers were far and away the better team – and Embiid was far and away the best player on the floor.
All series long, the Sixers have been battling a math problem that works in Boston's favor. The Celtics are one of the highest-volume three-point shooting teams in the NBA; the Sixers have struggled mightily to consistently generate good looks from beyond the arc. In Game 2, the Sixers won because they capitalized on Boston experiencing a 48-minute shooting slump.
In Game 5, they won in part because of a critical stretch in the third quarter, which started right when Embiid emerged from the locker room. The Sixers – this might be hard to believe – began to outpace the Celtics as three-point shooters. Grimes, who had failed to leave a real imprint on the series through four games, hit multiple huge shots. Paul George, who opened the game with two quick threes, added two more. Tyrese Maxey, struggling to shake free from Boston defenders all night, finally connected. So did Drummond, who has added yet another pivotal playoff corner three to his portfolio. Embiid, after relying on those shots early and failing to connect, instead played facilitator.
Meanwhile, the Sixers once again benefited from Boston running into long stretches of misfires. Jayson Tatum was excellent, but the rest of Boston's offense was quite inefficient. It is what positioned the Sixers to close out this game in an intense fourth quarter.
Perhaps the most pivotal sequence of plays from yet another mature closing effort came midway through the fourth quarter. With the Sixers up by three points, Embiid bullied Boston into double-teaming him, then found an open Grimes. Grimes knocked down a triple, then completely locked up Jaylen Brown across the entire floor to force a miss. After Grimes yelled at his teammates in jubilation, the Sixers got Embiid the ball and he hit a gorgeous fadeaway:
Quentin Grimes the corner 3, then continues with an excellent defense on Jaylen Brown, and Joel Embiid hits the jumper to put the Sixers up 8, with 5:16 minutes remaining in regulation (with replays) pic.twitter.com/RWq0b82RSK
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) April 29, 2026
With two more Embiid free throws, a mid-range jumper from Maxey, a triple from VJ Edgecombe and a terrific string of stops in which the Sixers held Boston scoreless for nearly five minutes, the Sixers had suddenly put the game away. It took, quite literally, everything they had to offer.
It spoke to the desperation the Sixers promised to play with. And Embiid, oftentimes rightfully criticized for not setting a proper standard for his team as its best player, established the ideal level of commitment to securing a win.
Joel Embiid, 19 days removed from an appendectomy (while also dealing with a knee injury):
— Adam Aaronson (@SixersAdam) April 29, 2026
38:55
33 points
8 assists
4 rebounds
12-23 FG
0-5 3P
9-10 FT
+13
Up next: This series is heading back to Philadelphia. Game 6 is on Thursday night.
