Sixers vs. Celtics Game 5 takeaways: Joel Embiid’s maturity, Tyrese Maxey’s breakout, Tobias Harris’ rebounding

BOSTON – This is far from what we’ve seen of the 76ers of past seasons.

Tyrese Maxey finally showed the Boston Celtics why he’s highly regarded in Philly.

And Tobias Harris’ rebounding was a major reason for the Sixers’ success.

Those were three takeaways from Tuesday and the Sixers’ 115-103 Game 5 victory over the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinal at TD Garden.

To put it bluntly, the Sixers of old had a knack for succumbing to pressure situations. We’ll find out Thursday in Game 6 at the Wells Fargo Center just how much they have truly improved.

But the team definitely made major strides by hammering the Celtics Tuesday to post their biggest postseason win in over 22 seasons. Before this game, the Sixers had six straight Game 5 losses in conference semifinals, including the last two seasons.

This was a major step for the franchise.

“It is, but it’s nothing unless we finish the job,” said Doc Rivers, who’s in his third season coaching the Sixers. “That’s why I’m so focused on winning, and keeping our guys focused on that.”

He’s doing a solid job.

The Sixers’ focus quickly turned to closing out the Celtics in Game 6 after the game. That in itself is a different mindset than in seasons past when they would have openly celebrated the victory.

» READ MORE: Joel ‘The Process’ Embiid runs down Jaylen Brown for a signature block, leads the Sixers to Game 5 win

“The maturity of the team I’m going to give a shout out to the big fella, Joel Embiid,” Maxey said. “The last two years, don’t get me wrong, he’s been focusing in the MVP conversation, been dominant. This year, as soon as we got to Charleston and training camp, I just noticed his leadership grow.

“When your best player is a great leader. … When your best player is adamant about winning and he’s on his teammates and calling his teammates out, and he’s leading by example, you have to raise your level of intensity.”

The elevated level of intensity has enabled the Sixers to win games they would have loved to in the past.

Maxey has struggled against the Celtics in the past.

The shooting guard averaged 8.2 points on 34.0% shooting in 10 career regular-season games versus Boston. He averaged 16.5 points on 36.6% shooting through the first four games of the series.

However, he finished with 30 points on 10-for-21 shooting - including making 6 of 12 three-pointers. He made 3 of 5 three-pointers while scoring 11 first-quarter points. Twelve of his points came in the fourth quarter.

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid’s Sixers dominate Celtics, 115-103, to come within one win of Eastern Conference finals

“I think I just started out extremely aggressive,” Maxey said of his breakout game. “Jo, James [Harden], Tobias, they told me the shots I had been shooting [were] pretty good shots. They just haven’t been falling. ‘They’re going to fall for you. We’re not really worried about you. You put the work in.’”

The trio told him to continue to work hard and keep being aggressive.

“That’s what we need from him,” Embiid said. “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.”

Like they did from Maxey being assertive, the Sixers benefitted from Harris’ aggressiveness.

He looked at times like the second coming of Dennis Rodman while pulling down nine of his game-high 11 rebounds in the first half.

Those rebounds were huge and helped the Sixers get out in transition and have extra possessions.

“I just wanted to be aggressive, come in there and find different ways to be impactful,” he said. “I was getting a couple offensive boards; I was getting defensive rebounds, just being in the mix.

“They were shooting a lot of threes. 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.”

Best performance: This goes to Embiid. He finished with 33 points, seven rebounds, three assists and four blocks.

Worst performance: Al Horford gets this. The Boston center failed to score a point while missing all seven of his shot attempts.

Best defensive player: Embiid gets this for his four blocks.

Worst statistic: This goes to Boston’s first-half three-point shooting. They made just 5 of 19 attempts.

Best statistic: I have to give it to the Sixers’ rebounding. They outrebounded Boston 49-36.