'We're not perfect:' How the Celtics blew a golden opportunity and gave the 76ers life

“It gave us a ton of confidence,” said Sixers coach Nick Nurse. “We talked about it in one of the timeouts. We have to go through Jo in the post, because now they’re starting to send people, and from here on out somebody should get an open look.”

There is no reason to believe that he cannot be a force again in Game 6 on Thursday, other than the fact we have so rarely seen Embiid put together prolonged stretches of dominance in the playoffs. But he does not need to be dominant for any extended stretch to scare these Celtics. He only needs to show up for one more night to force a Game 7 on Saturday, when anything can happen, even for these hit-or-miss Sixers.

“I pushed hard to come back and try to help as much as I can,” said Embiid. “I didn’t want to go home and think about all summer what could have been if I was healthy going into the playoffs. So, one more day, one more game to go out and try to make it back here [to Boston]. That’s the mentality. I’m just thankful to be in position to play. I don’t know how long I can do this, so I just want to enjoy it as much as possible.”

And that’s the problem. The Celtics, who have touted themselves as “the harder-playing team all season,” were not that in Game 5, relying instead on pure talent — a tendency that worked fine when it was clear they had more talent, when their role players were one-time stars named Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porziņģis and Al Horford.

They are all gone now. In their place are guys like Queta, Sam Hauser and Jordan Walsh, all of whom have played beyond expectations this season, if only because they played so damn hard all season. So, for this team to resort to the stagnation that has plagued them for years in the highest-pressure situations is disappointing.

"It just wasn't good enough from us," said Brown.

It was the sort of performance that makes you think, if the Celtics can blow this one to these Sixers, they can easily blow a series, even to an inferior team, which is precisely what happened to them in 2025 against the New York Knicks and in 2023 against the Miami Heat. And this problem has plagued them since well before then.

Whether the Sixers can be that team to catch them off guard remains to be seen. But they believe they can now, and that is the problem. The Celtics gave them life.

And that’s an issue going forward, even if they survive this series, because they had a golden opportunity to rest when their rivals were still playing. The Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers were both deadlocked 2-2 in their series going into the evening, while the Detroit Pistons trailed their series against the Orlando Magic 3-1.

And, yes, these Celtics could have used the rest. Tatum is 11 months removed from surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon. Brown has played on full tilt all season. That is what this year has required. The Celtics cannot play with their food; they’re not good enough anymore. They win on guts and lacked them in Game 5.