Three takeaways from 76ers putting the Celtics on the brink of elimination

If you squint really hard, you can see optimism for the Celtics. They were down 3-2 in the conference semi-finals last season and had to go into Milwaukee and win Game 6, which they did and then won Game 7 of that series, eventually advancing on to the NBA Finals. Plus there is the Doc Rivers curse: His teams have dropped seven straight games where a win would have sent them to the conference finals.

This feels different, however.

Especially after the Celtics game out flat at home in a critical Game 5 Tuesday night, laying an egg against a 76ers team where the MVP looks better and better each game. Philadelphia took Game 5 115-103 (it wasn’t that close) and now leads the series 3-2 heading home for Game 6 on Thursday.

Here are three takeaways from that game.

The temptation is to focus on Boston’s flaws — and we will get to those — but give the Philadelphia 76ers credit for rising to the moment.

The 76ers starters dominated the first half (scoring 52 of Philly’s 58 points) by leaning into the James Harden/Joel Embiid two-man game early. Harden hit some shots but returned more to his role as facilitator, while Embiid put up 21 in the first half and couldn’t seem to miss.

However, more than the points, it was hustle plays like this — sprinting end-to-end on a sprained knee for a chase-down block — that defined his MVP-worthy performance and sparked the team.

EMBIID CHASEDOWN ON BROWN