Can They Get Back To Boston?: Celtics vs. 76ers Game 6 Preview

The 76ers have forced a Game 6 and have forced the Celtics to travel back to South Philly to close out their first-round series.

I’ll say it again, I thought there was no chance the 76ers would make this a series against the Celtics, especially after Boston came into Philadelphia and won both games on the road to take a 3-1 series lead. Even with Joel Embiid back from injury, I thought they’d take care of business in the TD Garden and send the 76ers to Cancún.

However, the 76ers came out and played one of their best games all season long in Game 5, defeating the Celtics, giving them a chance to tie up the series at home and send it back to Boston for a seventh game.

Now there’s still no guarantee a home game means the 76ers are going to tie the series, as Boston has been known to dominate in the Xfinity Mobile Arena. But the 76ers are playing hungry, and if they continue to play the way they did in Game 5, and continue to get the performances from their stars again, they might just pull off the 14th 3-1 series comeback in NBA history.

Return Of The Process

While it wasn’t his first game back from the injury, Game 5 was highlighted by the return of the MVP form of 76ers center Embiid, with an EMVPiid type performance, posting a 33-point, eight-assist, and four-rebound game in the 76ers’ 113-97 win in Boston.

It was Embiid’s 22nd 30-point playoff game of his career, and he showed you glimpses of how great the big man is, even playing with a cut-open stomach from appendicitis surgery that happened less than three weeks ago. He’s posting performances that many players are incapable of posting, and he’s doing it at realistically not even 50% healthy.

After the game, Embiid spoke about how he wants to give it his all every night, through injuries, and play as hard as he possibly can. He also talked about how people have said that he’s lazy and that he takes nights off because he can. Well, I’m here to tell you that those things are further from the truth.

Embiid has stormed back from injury to play in a series that the 76ers likely have no shot in, but continues to cut out incredible performances after incredible performances, proving that he truly cares and would rather die than let his team down.

It’s still an uphill battle for the 76ers to come back and win this series against the Celtics, but with Embiid willing to go out there and give a Warrior-esque performance and continue to push his body to its limits for this team, anything is possible.

READ MORE ON EMBIID:

‘Vintage’ Joel Embiid Shows Out For Huge Game 5 Performance To Extend Series Against Celtics

Limit The Celtics’ Three’s

The thing the 76ers really have to do to win the next two games against Boston is stop their three-pointers as they did in Game 5. The story of this first round series has been three-pointers from the Celtics, and when and how many they’ve taken in each game.

In Games 1 and 4, the Celtics shot the lights out from beyond the arc and rightfully blew out the 76ers in both those games, winning both by 30+ points. They shot 16-for-44 and 24-for-53, both well over 36% for the night, and in Game 3, while the Celtics only won by eight points, they still shot 20-for-47 from three. 60 of their 108 points came from just threes.

It shows you that a team that can shoot and shoot well will succeed, but it also shows you what their major flaw is. See all three of those games, the Celtics won, the two they lost, Boston shot 13-for-50 and 11-for-39 from three, showing you that if the 76ers can prevent them from getting hot or even taking threes at all, they have a chance.

Game 5 was a true stoppage that the 76ers had looked for, as all game long, they forced Boston to settle for more twos and played tighter defense when it came to contesting the threes. The return of Embiid helped a lot in that sense, and with the big man expected for the remainder of the series, you have to hope that that lockdown defense continues.

Quentin Grimes Earning His Future Deal

Besides the return of Embiid over the past two games, another major changing point over the past couple of games for the 76ers has been the increased play from guard Quentin Grimes. Grimes has played 24 minutes in both Game 4 and 5, and he has made the most of them after being basically an afterthought in the first three games of the series.

In Game 4, Grimes scored 12 points, but when an effiecent 5-for-7 (71%) from the field, making the most out of the shot attempts he was given. In Games 1 and 2, he shot six shots in each game, going 50% in one and 33.3% in the other, which isn’t bad, but when you’re being relied on to be the spark off the bench, you have to make the most of the opportunities you’re being given.

Game 5, though, was the best Grimes has looked in weeks, scoring 18 points on 5-for-8 shooting, drilling four threes. Throughout the game, it felt like Grimes was the guy that the 76ers could rely on for a wide-open shot when Embiid was double-teamed in the paint or Tyrese Maxey through the lane and dished out for a corner triple.

This summer, Grimes will be an unrestricted free agent after signing the qualifying offer last offseason and not getting the max offer he’d thought he’d get. The 76ers still think highly of Grimes and want him a part of their future moving forward. They want him so much that they traded sophomore guard Jared McCain at his year’s deadline to open up more money for the 76ers this summer so that re-signing Grimes was possible.

Throughout the season, Grimes has been an up-and-down player, where at times you’ve felt that he doesn’t $20+ million he’s going to get this summer. However, over the past two games, he’s proving why he’s worth that price, and we’ll have to see if he continues that hot hand.

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