Sixers fall behind early, falter late in critical 95-86 Game 6 loss to Boston Celtics

Jayson Tatum pulled up behind the three-point arc and shot over Joel Embiid. The deep shot went swish. And the 76ers fans who had arrived at the Wells Fargo Center eager to celebrate finally overcoming the second-round hurdle began to file to the exits.

The Sixers squandered their opportunity to close out the Boston Celtics in a home Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, losing 95-86 Thursday night. Now this series comes down to Sunday’s Game 7 in Boston, after which the Sixers will either party like it’s 2001 — the last time they advanced past the second round — or face a jarring end of their season.

Heartbreak for the Sixers arrived down the stretch of a tightly contested fourth quarter. And it was largely due to Tatum, the All-NBA guard who snapped out of a horrific shooting night to hit four three-pointers that pushed the Celtics back into a double-digit lead.

Embiid, the NBA’s Most Valuable Player, finished with 26 points on 9-of-19 shooting and 10 rebounds. Boston’s Marcus Smart led the Celtics with 22 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

Boston came out much more energized following a flat performance in front of their home crowd in Game 5. They made eight of their first 11 three-point shots, racked up 16 fastbreak points in the first half and held the Sixers to 34.1% from the floor before intermission. And they built that advantage despite a 5-for-21 shooting outing from Tatum, who missed his first 11 shots before finally converting a physical layup in the third quarter.

That all led to a 16-point second-quarter deficit for the Sixers, before they closed the gap in the third and took a two-point lead into the final period.

Georges Niang banged home a corner three-pointer with less than six minutes to play in the frame, before Embiid drew a foul and hit the game-tying free throws and James Harden followed with two foul shots to give the Sixers their first lead of the game at the 4:37 mark. Another Niang deep shot extended the Sixers’ advantage to 69-65 with about two minutes to play in the third, before a driving Embiid finish put his team up, 71-66.

» READ MORE: P.J. Tucker knows Game 6 will be a dogfight for the Sixers: ‘There’s no comfort in the playoffs’

Mad Maxey

On a night the fellow Sixers complementary offensive stars Harden and Tobias Harris shot a combined 5 of 23 from the floor, Maxey largely carried his breakout Game 5 performance over to Thursday.

After his team fell into an early double-digit hole, Maxey capped a 9-0 spurt with a three-pointer that sent the crowd into a frenzy. He hit another deep shot in the second period’s final seconds to cut Boston’s lead to 50-43. And early in the third quarter, he got free to receive a full-court pass for the fastbreak layup to get his team within 52-45.

Later, Maxey gave the Sixers a 66-65 lead with less than four minutes remaining in the third quarter, and threw down a dunk off a baseline drive to tie the score at 79 at the 7:11 mark of the fourth. Less than two minutes later, he drew a clear-path foul and, after an official snafu initially allowed Embiid to take the free throws, he sank both attempts.

Bench brigades

Much was made before the game about the Celtics’ personnel shift, with big man Robert Williams moving into the starting lineup in place of guard Derrick White.

That move still gave Boston’s bench plenty of scoring punch. Newly minted NBA Sixth Man of the Year Malcolm Brogdon scored 13 of his 16 points in the first half on 5-of-6 shooting. At the end of the third quarter, the Celtics’ two-man reserve unit of Brogdon and White had outscored the Sixers’ four-man second unit, 22-9.

The Sixers’ reserves were a more of a mixed bag. Niang’s three-pointers ignited the crowd. De’Anthony Melton finished with five rebounds and was a perimeter defensive sub for Tucker down the stretch, but he missed two key fourth-quarter three-point tries. After providing an unexpected boost in Game 5, Danuel House Jr. finished with three points and two rebounds in seven minutes.

» READ MORE: Will Doc Rivers and the Sixers finally overcome their string of second-round disappointments?