BOSTON — The Philadelphia 76ers invaded the TD Garden on Tuesday night looking to regain control of this series. The Boston Celtics had not lost consecutive games in the postseason yet, and it was going to be one tough atmosphere in order to regain control of this series.
The Sixers have been pushing Tyrese Maxey to be aggressive all series because he is so important to whatever they want to do on the offensive end. After four tough games out on the floor, he was able to find his groove on Tuesday.
Maxey had 30 points on 10-for-21 shooting, and he shot 6-for-12 from deep in a 115-103 win over the Celtics. He was terrific all night, and the Sixers needed all of it.
“Like I said, being aggressive doesn’t mean taking all the shots, it’s about attacking with force,” Joel Embiid said. “Making sure you get the best looks possible for yourself and creating for your teammates. Tonight, he played with a purpose. He knew what he wanted to do, he knew when to attack, and when to involve everybody else, and that’s what we need from him.”
Here’s the thing with Maxey’s offense. He is not the No. 1 or No. 2 option. Obviously, those spots belong to Embiid and James Harden, so to get Maxey going, the ball has to move. That was a big difference in the win on Tuesday.
“Ball movement,” coach Doc Rivers said. “Honestly. The ball went from side to side. You think about it, he had three or four just point-blank 3s because of his rotations. With him and Tobias (Harris), it’s a barometer for us. If Tobias and Maxey are involved, that mean’s the ball’s moving. If Tobias and Maxey are not involved, that means the ball’s not moving, and the ball moved today. With seven minutes left, we put it in his hand because we thought with his quickness, he can handle their pressure.”
The Sixers were able to get Maxey involved on the offensive end on Tuesday and it was instrumental on this night.
“That’s what we need from him,” Embiid added. “Attacking, being aggressive, and also being efficient doing so, but it’s not over. We gotta get one more. All of us, we gotta show up, and we gotta do our job.”
The Sixers will look to close this series out in Game 6 on Thursday at home.
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