The Philadelphia 76ers kept their season alive Tuesday night with a gutty road win over the Boston Celtics. On the heels of an ugly Game 4 loss at home, Philadelphia responded with a dominant second half — particularly from Joel Embiid in his second game back after an emergency appendectomy. Elsewhere in the East, the New York Knicks took control of their series with the Atlanta Hawks with a commanding 126-97 win over the Atlanta Hawks at home. Now up 3-2, the Knicks have rebounded with back-to-back wins after falling behind 2-1 and can advance with a win in Game 6 in Atlanta on Thursday. Later on, the San Antonio Spurs became the second team in the West to advance to Round 2 by taking care of business against the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 5. Here are the biggest winners and losers of Tuesday night’s action. Loser: Appendicitis (in its showdown vs. Joel Embiid)Joel Embiid had an appendectomy 19 days ago. That he’s playing basketball is remarkable. That he’s able to cook the Celtics and absolutely take over the second half of a playoff game is incredible.
Embiid was the driving force behind the Sixers’ Game 5 victory. In 39 minutes, he scored 33 points (12-23 FG) and dished out eight assists. Imagine the numbers he could have put up if he hadn’t gotten off to such a rough start!
It was ancient history by the time Philadelphia was cruising to a comfortable win, but Embiid missed six of his first seven shots on Tuesday. Four of those misses were 3s. When those weren’t going in, he decided to change his approach. “I started going inside and found some luck,” Embiid told ESPN’s Lisa Salters in his walkoff interview.
After halftime, Embiid scored 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting and didn’t take a single 3. I’m normally not a “bigs belong on the block!” guy, but it was exhilarating to watch him bully Nikola Vučević and make the Celtics look stupid for trying to front him. He hit a few vintage pull-ups and turnarounds — you know, the stuff that makes him an impossible matchup — in isolation, too. A truly superb showing. A couple of weeks ago, it was fair to assume that appendicitis had effectively ended Embiid’s (and Philadelphia’s) season. Considering all of the other things his body has been through, maybe appendicitis never stood a chance. — James Herbert Winner: Jalen Brunson This hasn’t been the best series for Jalen Brunson. He hasn’t shot the…
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2026-04-29 05:33:18
