{"id":119414,"date":"2026-04-30T03:34:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T03:34:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/joel-embiid-takes-over-as-sixers-lock-down-celtics-to-stay-alive\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T03:34:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T03:34:27","slug":"joel-embiid-takes-over-as-sixers-lock-down-celtics-to-stay-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/joel-embiid-takes-over-as-sixers-lock-down-celtics-to-stay-alive\/","title":{"rendered":"Joel Embiid Takes Over as Sixers Lock Down Celtics to Stay Alive"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Joel Embiid delivered when it mattered most, and the Philadelphia 76ers followed his lead with a defensive masterclass to keep their season alive.<\/p>\n<p>Facing elimination on the road, Philadelphia stunned the Boston Celtics with a 113-97 Game 5 win at TD Garden, fueled by a dominant performance from their MVP and a fourth-quarter collapse from Boston.<\/p>\n<p>Embiid finished with 33 points and controlled the game down the stretch, but it was the defensive turnaround that defined the night.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously you don\u2019t want to go home, so you do whatever it takes,\u201d Embiid <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.au\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/48623318\/joel-embiid-33-downs-celtics-game-5-keep-76ers-alive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>. \u201cI thought defensively we did a much better job, especially not overhelping as we did last game. And yeah, then offensively it becomes a little easier when you\u2019re making shots. We definitely made more shots than we did last game. So that\u2019s a good combination when you want to win a basketball game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Celtics led by one entering the fourth quarter, but what followed was one of the most dramatic momentum swings of the postseason. Philadelphia outscored Boston 28-11, while the Celtics missed their final 14 shots, a drought that completely flipped the game.<\/p>\n<p>Boston star Jayson Tatum acknowledged the shift after the loss.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst of all, give them credit,\u201d Tatum said. \u201cThey played well. And yeah, a few looks that we felt good about that we just didn\u2019t make. But sometimes that happens. You know, it\u2019s just tough. Not scoring the way you want to puts a lot of pressure on your defense, and they made some plays at the other end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the Celtics struggled, Embiid elevated. After a quieter first half, he attacked the paint relentlessly after the break and took full control.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think you got to find the right mix,\u201d Embiid said of his shot selection. \u201cTo start the game, it was a little bit more of outside than in. And then in the second half, it was both. But then again, inside, I feel pretty good about my chances of going one-on-one against anybody in this league, and I don\u2019t think that I can be stopped. So I just took advantage of what they were giving me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foreverbet.com\/en-us\/sportsbook?utm_source=basketballforever&amp;utm_medium=sitearticle&amp;utm_ca%5B%E2%80%A6%5Dn=basketballforever500ph&amp;utm_term=Embiid76ersCeltics&amp;lid=j0ytdho0wlyd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-69036\" src=\"https:\/\/basketballforever.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ForeverBet-BF-promotional-banner-Var3-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"730\" height=\"175\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/basketballforever.com\/2026\/04\/28\/marcus-smart-calls-out-costly-mistakes-as-lakers-slip-in-game-4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Marcus Smart Calls Out Costly Mistakes as Lakers Slip in Game 4<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/basketballforever.com\/2026\/04\/29\/joel-embiid-takes-over-as-sixers-lock-down-celtics-to-stay-alive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joel Embiid delivered when it mattered most, and the Philadelphia 76ers followed his lead with a defensive masterclass to keep their season alive. Facing elimination on the road, Philadelphia stunned the Boston Celtics with a 113-97 Game 5 win at TD Garden, fueled by a dominant performance from their MVP and a fourth-quarter collapse from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119414"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}