76ers
Don’t look now, but the 76ers are still alive.
Joel Embiid went for 33 points, Tyrese Maxey added 25 and 10, and Philly locked down late to beat the Celtics in Game 5.
Now it’s 3-2, heading back to Philadelphia.
“Obviously you don’t want to go home, so you do whatever it takes,” Embiid said, via ESPN.
That showed up in the fourth. The Sixers outscored Boston 28-11 and watched the Celtics miss their final 14 shots. That’s not just cold shooting. That’s pressure.
Embiid adjusted, too. Less settling, more work inside.
“I feel pretty good about my chances… I don’t think that I can be stopped,” he said.
Game 6 is Thursday. Suddenly, this thing has some life.
Rockets
There will be no Kevin Durant yet again for the Rockets.
Durant has been ruled out for Game 5 against the Lakers with a left ankle sprain. Houston trails the series 3-1, so yeah, the margin is basically gone.
He didn’t practice Tuesday but did some work on an antigravity treadmill before the team left for L.A., which at least suggests he’s trying to get back.
Still, this postseason hasn’t gone his way. He missed multiple games, returned briefly, then went down again. That’s after logging heavy minutes all regular season.
Houston did win Game 4 without him, so there’s some fight there. But going into L.A. without Durant? That’s a tough ask.
Hawks
This has flipped in a hurry for the Hawks.
They had a 2-1 lead. Two one-point wins. Everything felt within reach. Now they’re down 3-2 to the Knicks after back-to-back blowouts.
Game 5 wasn’t close. Jalen Brunson went for 39, and the Knicks led by as many as 32.
“I just think that their mindset was to come out and try to bully us and be physical, and they did that,” Hawks guard Dyson Daniels told reporters.
That’s the story right now. Physicality. Rebounding. Tempo. New York is winning all of it.
Atlanta still gets Game 6 at home, so it’s not over. But the way this thing has shifted? The Hawks need a response, and they need it fast.
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