BOSTON — The Philadelphia 76ers took advantage of their opportunity on Tuesday night. They picked up a thrilling Game 4 win at home and the challenge was to get another one on the road.
They did so with a huge 115-103 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 5. They received contributions from up and down the lineup, including Tobias Harris, who hasn’t had the greatest series numbers-wise.
Harris set the tone early: He almost had a double-double by halftime. He finished with 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting, and he pulled down 11 rebounds in a strong effort next to huge nights from Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and James Harden.
“I just wanted to be aggressive,” Harris said. “Come in there and find different ways to be impactful and I was getting a couple offensive boards, I was getting defensive rebounds, just being in the mix. They were shooting a lot of 3s and whatnot so long shots lead to long rebounds so just being able to get myself in there and be active and just create some energy. I definitely thought that was a huge energy boost for our team as well.”
Harris’s efforts helped the Sixers push the Celtics to the brink of elimination. Philadelphia is one win away from its first Eastern Conference finals appearance since 2001 and the focus has to shift to finishing this series off at home on Thursday.
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