76ers take 3-2 series lead against Celtics

He Philadelphia 76ers comfortably handled the boston celtics in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series on Tuesday, taking a 3-2 series lead with a 115-103 victory. Here’s what you need to know:

• Joel Embiid he led the 76ers with 33 points, one of five Philadelphia players to score in double figures, adding seven rebounds. Tyrese Maxey he scored 30 points as the team shot 50.6 percent from the field.
• boston jayson tatum he led all scorers with 36 points on 11-of-27 shooting (3-of-11 from 3-point range); he was 11 of 13 from the free throw line. jaylen brown he had 24 points on 9-for-16 shooting.
• The 76ers outscored the Celtics 116-115 in Game 4 on Sunday. Game 6 is Thursday at 7:30 pm ET in Philadelphia.

the athleticInstant analysis of:

What went wrong for the Celtics

In the biggest game of the season, the Celtics failed. His poor outside shot would be an easy excuse, but the problems went much deeper.

They committed a long list of foolish mistakes. Tatum took too long to get going. Al-Horford he missed all seven of his 3-point attempts. The team forced 13 turnovers, but several came late in the fourth quarter, while the bench winger put together a pointless streak.

The Celtics couldn’t 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 takers to make it work every night. But they were flat, cold and apparently out of gas. The only time they looked like themselves for more than a minute was when Joe Mazzulla sent the garbage time unit.

This team had the lead in this series and fumbled multiple times, then looked shocked when the Sixers were finally in top form tonight. They had no answers for Embiid’s low-post offense and transition defense finally coming back to shape. Maxey kept cooking everyone the Celtics threw at him.

This was the worst the Celtics had to offer at the biggest moment of the season. As Mazzulla said, it was his first really bad game of the playoffs. —Weiss

Philly’s record win

This was an unprecedented victory for the Sixers. According to Sports Reference, they have never won a Game 5 on the road. And doing it on the road in your own house of horrors, relatively simply, was not the script you’d expect going into the game. Doc Rivers called Embiid’s performance “professional” and that about sums it up for the entire team. The Celtics missed shots, particularly from beyond the arc, but the Sixers’ execution was sharper. james harden and Maxey continually found Embiid in the pick-and-roll. And Maxey turned in his best game of the series, a 30-point effort.

Now the Sixers, heavy losers in this series, are one game away from having home-field advantage in the NBA Finals. Thursday’s Game 6, in which the Celtics won’t go quietly, is shaping up to be perhaps the biggest game of the Process era. — hofmann

There are plenty of heroes for the Sixers, but there was no one more unlikely 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 TD blowout of the Celtics. Garden. Touted as a major signing by the Sixers (they even took draft picks for rigging him!), House Jr. has 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 House Jr. and delivered big: 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 big moments. If the Sixers do finish off Boston (still a big if, with a hungry Celtics team arriving in Philadelphia on Thursday), this could be known in Philly as The Danuel House Jr. Game. — hofmann

game highlight

key statistic

The Celtics are 37-8 (.822) in the regular season when Tatum and Brown combine for 60 points, per ESPN Stats and Information. They are now 5-4 (.555) when the duo combine for 60 or more in the playoffs.

required reading

(Photo: Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)