3 biggest takeaways for Sixers following Game 5 win over Celtics

BOSTON -- The Philadelphia 76ers kept their season alive with an impressive performance as they knocked off the Boston Celtics on the road 113-97 to stave off elimination and force a Game 6 back in Philadelphia on Thursday. The Sixers used lockdown defense in the fourth quarter to hold off the Celtics and keep things moving in the right direction. The Sixers received 33 points, eight assists, and four rebounds from Joel Embiid while Tyrese Maxey had 25 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists.

Paul George had 16 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists, Quentin Grimes had 18 points, and VJ Edgecombe had 10 points and seven rebounds. Here are the three biggest takeaways from the win on the road: Fourth quarter defense The Sixers won this game due to their defensive pressure in the fourth. They held the No.

2 offensive team in the league to just 11 points and just 3-for-22 shooting. The Celtics missed their final 16 field goals of the night and that type of performance on the defensive end, coupled with a big Embiid night, allowed Philadelphia to keep its season alive. That is the type of effort it is going to take to win two more games in this series.

"Well, again, I think, we were able to really execute what we wanted to do defensively," said coach Nick Nurse. "Just weren't blowing assignments, and we were guarding the ball hard. I mean, they did take it in there deep a few times, but there wasn't a whole lot of straight line drives, or we got into lots of rotations, or any of those kind of things.