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

BOSTON — Are the 76ers closing in on their first Eastern Conference finals appearance in 22 seasons? Or will the Boston Celtics find a way to extend the series?

We’ll find out at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Game 6 of the conference semifinals at the Wells Fargo Center (ESPN).

The Sixers took a 3-2 advantage in their best-of-seven series with a 115-103 Game 5 victory at TD Garden. This was the biggest postseason win of Joel Embiid’s tenure. He’d never been in this position before. Yet he was far from a celebrating mood.

“I honestly don’t care,” Embiid said. “We still gotta get one more win. That’s all I’m thinking about right now. And then obviously, you go home. So you are going to have a lot of energy, the crowd. I would imagine everybody plays better at home, too.

“So I do play better at home. … So what we did tonight, it’s easier said than done. But we got to do it again.”

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Philly got balanced scoring while shooting 50.6% and had an unlikely key contributor in Danuel House Jr.

House, playing in his second game of the series, gave the Sixers exactly what they needed — life and energy off the bench. Embiid, playing without a knee brace, showed no signs of having a sprained right LCL.

In the process, the Sixers led from the 7-minute, 24-second mark of the first quarter onward. They had a commanding 21-point cushion with 3:57 to play.

Embiid led the Sixers with 33 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and a game-high four blocks. Tyrese Maxey added 30 points while making 6 of 12 three-pointers. James Harden had 17 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds. Tobias Harris (16 points, 11 rebounds) and House (10 points) were the Sixers’ other double-digit scorers.

The Celtics were “denying me,” Harden said. “So that really opened the floor up for Tyrese. He really hasn’t shot the ball well or scored the ball well this series. We knew that was going to turn around. … Tonight was his game. That’s how it’s going to be in the playoffs.

“You commend somebody like Danuel House, who hasn’t really played and comes in and changes the dynamic of the game. So those two players tonight … are one of the reasons why we won tonight.”

On this night, Embiid and Harden excelled in the pick-and-roll. It was a pick-your-poison night for the Celtics, who struggled mightily defending it.

They couldn’t stop Embiid from rolling to the basket or pick-and-popping. Boston was also unable to stop Harden’s dribble penetration. But while he only took eight shots, Harden did a solid job leading the team two nights after scoring a game-high 42 points.

Meanwhile, Embiid showed exactly why he was the runaway MVP.

The 7-foot-2, 280-pounder was aggressive from the start. This enabled him to get to the foul line eight times — making all of his attempts — in the second quarter. And it didn’t matter who guarded him. Al Horford, Robert Williams II, and Grant Williams were unsuccessful.

A good bulk of Embiid’s offensive success was set up by solid passes from Harden. He found Embiid on pocket passes that led to free-throw line jumpers.

“This game, they played us a little different,” Harden said. “Each game, each possession is going to be different. You got to adapt and adjust to it. Tonight, they were kind of clogging the paint to where Joel had his free-throw line jump shots.

“So we’ve literally seen every defense, to their bigs in the drop to deep drop, to their bigs in a closer drop. So it’s just a matter of us seeing what they’re doing, trying to do and us countering.”

Defensively, Embiid altered several shots in addition to his four blocks, and also gave up his body while falling to the ground after making several key defensive plays.

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Maxey, meanwhile, had his best game of the series. For the first time in a couple of games, he had success while attacking the rim against the Celtics. That helped him step out and drain several clutch three-pointers in transition.

Boston forward Jayson Tatum led all scorers with 36 points, while Jaylen Brown added 24. Meanwhile, Al Horford struggled mightily. He was held scoreless on 0-for-7 shooting — all three-pointers.

Now the Sixers have history on their side. Game 5 winners have gone on to advance more than 82% of the time in playoff series that were tied, 2-2.

And Tuesday’s victory snapped the Sixers’ streak of Game 5 losses in conference semifinals. They had lost six consecutive, including the last two seasons. This was their first Game 5 victory in the conference semis since 2001.

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That also was the last time the Sixers won a conference semifinals series. They defeated the Toronto Raptors in seven games. That squad ultimately reached the NBA Finals, losing in five games to the Los Angeles Lakers.

A series victory would take a monkey off the Sixers’ backs.

At 1-11 in their last 12 appearances, the conference semifinals are where they have gone to die. And it would be special to snap this skid against the Celtics. Philly has lost its last five postseason series against the Celtics.

“We control what we control,” Harden said. “Tonight … our mindset was coming into this game. We control our own destiny. Whether it’s Joel coming back [from a sprained LCL] Game 2 or the games we lost [this series[, that’s past us. We find things to get better at every single day.”

On Tuesday night, Sixers coach Doc Rivers had a solid game plan.

He went to a nine-man rotation with House joining Georges Niang, De’Anthony Melton, and Paul Reed. This came after the Sixers were gassed in the fourth quarter while playing an eight-man rotation in Game 4. Jalen McDaniels had been in the lineup before the Sixers shrank their rotation.

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House entered Tuesday’s game with 4.4 seconds left in the first quarter. He was part of a lineup that built a 15-point cushion 1:59 into the second quarter.

“You go with a gut,” Rivers said. “I can tell you we talked about it painstakingly yesterday and today between three guys who to play and I can tell you House was not the pick, but I just picked him. I thought we needed size and we needed athleticism. That’s something that he has.”

The spark he provided was timely.

He had two points and one key rebound while bringing energy during a 4:14 stretch in the first half.

“To be honest with you, he really didn’t tell me,” House said. “Yeah, he told me a role, but he just told me go in and play and my job was to bring energy. Showcase a little bit for the team, guard the yard, and make sure I’m executing plays.”

However, the Celtics later went on a 10-0 run to close the gap to five points (42-37) before Harris halted it with a jumper.

Harris would have to provide a solid contribution for the Sixers to be competitive. And the power forward did — in the first half. He had 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting along with nine rebounds in the first half before picking up his third foul with 44.1 seconds before intermission.

The difference in the first half was shot making. The Sixers hit clutch shots, while the Celtics struggled from the field.

Philly shot 45.5% — including going 7-for-18 on three-pointers. Meanwhile, Boston shot 38.9% while making just 5 of 19 three-pointers. Boston center and former Sixer Horford had zero points on 0-for-6 shooting in the first half. Tatum had 15 first-half points, but made just 3 of 11 shots.

The Sixers dominated until they got careless late, allowing Boston to close out the game with an 11-2 run.

“That’s just one more game,” Maxey said. “The series isn’t over. We still need one more game to move on to advance to the next round. So that game is behind us. We have to lock in. We have to focus come Tuesday. … It’s going to be a dogfight.

“They are going to come in. They’re going to play extremely desperate. We know that, and we have to be the more desperate team that night because it’s a close out game at home. It’s hard to close a team out.”