Instant observations: Sixers stars dominate Celtics in Game 6
Apr 30, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Paul George (8) reacts to his score against the Boston Celtics during the second quarter at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George combined for a hellacious three-star effort in Game 6, powering the Sixers to a 106-93 win over the Boston Celtics to force a decisive seventh game on Saturday. Philadelphia is beginning to look like the dangerous team many hoped they could be when George was signed two summers ago, with the three stars combining for 72 of the 76ers’ 106 points.
Here’s what I saw. We’ve got a Game 7 I was honestly pretty stunned by how frenetic this game was for almost the entire first half, because both teams were pressing as if they were down in the series and a single game away from elimination. Boston was a total mess trying to attack the Sixers inside the arc, turning the ball over seven times in the first 16 minutes of the game, a total outlier for one of the league’s elite ball security teams.
The problem was that the Sixers could not punish them for giving it away, shooting brick after brick on a stream of pretty good looks from all over the floor. On the one hand, I admire the give-a-shit level the Sixers showed on the defensive end, with everybody pitching in a little something to bother the Jays as they tried to attack mismatches. Philadelphia has done really well to play tight, physical defense on Jaylen Brown throughout this series, putting the officials in spots where they basically have to make calls, and often needing to call them on Brown for throwing out the chicken wing to create separation.
And for as good as Brown and Jayson Tatum are at mismatch hunting, they’re good ball handlers for wing players, not on the broader scale of dribblers, and the Sixers did well to dislodge and disrupt them around the elbows. You couldn’t shake the feeling that the Sixers were leaving this game up for grabs when they didn’t really have to. They couldn’t figure out the right pace, running through stop signs and staring shellshocked at green lights, running up and down and back and forth without being able to create much separation.
The good news is that when it comes down to it, they have the Embiid/Maxey two-man game to lean on, and more specifically, they had Maxey to carry them on offense for most of Thursday night. There is an instinct to dismiss anything other than a Joel Embiid deep catch as an act of treachery from Nick Nurse, and when the big man is shooting as he has on long jumpers in this series, I understand why many feel that way. The big guy has not been able to find his shooting boots yet, missing shots and free throws that are automatic when he is in a groove.
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