PHILADELPHIA -- The 76ers picked a good time to play their most complete game of the season.
Behind 30 points from Tyrese Maxey, Paul George played the best game of his two years in Philadelphia and Joel Embiid flirting with a triple-double, the Sixers never trailed en route to a 106-93 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
As a result, the best-of-7 series is knotted at three games apiece, with a do-or-die Game 7 back in Boston on Saturday.
"I've been playing these guys for so long," Embiid said with a smile afterward, referring to the Celtics. "I'm tired of losing to them. So we have a chance to accomplish something special.
"They're a great team. When you look at everything you have, that's a super team, so we just got to go with the mindset we've had for the last two games."
A lot of history will be on the line Saturday in one of the NBA's bitterest, most contested rivalries. Boston has knocked Philadelphia out of the playoffs in six consecutive meetings, going all the way back to the Sixers' stampede through the playoffs en route to its last championship in 1982.
Just over the past several years, the Celtics have ended Embiid's season three times in the playoffs: in 2018 in five games; in 2020 in a sweep in the NBA's Orlando Bubble; and in 2023 in seven games, after the Celtics came from behind to win Game 6 in Philadelphia.
No team in NBA history has been down 3-1 as many times as Philadelphia without ever coming back and winning the series -- they have lost all 18 times. The 76ers will be hoping to make it 1-18 when these teams square off at TD Garden on Saturday.
They will get that opportunity after playing an excellent all-around game Thursday in front of a raucous home crowd. The 76ers controlled the possession game, always a Celtics strong suit, and for a third time in this series they held Boston to under 30% shooting from 3.
In Boston's three wins, the Celtics have averaged 20 made 3s and shot 41.7% from 3. They are now 17-1 under coach Joe Mazzulla when they shoot 40% from 3 and 19-9 when shooting below that mark.
"I think we're playing into their hands a little bit," Jaylen Brown said. "I definitely think, even myself, the type of shots, the type of things they want us to do. That's not what we've been doing all year. But maybe a shift in your approach can open some stuff up offensively for us."
Thursday's game, however, wasn't as simple as Boston missing its shots. The 76ers controlled the math game, shooting more shots than the Celtics, something Boston often excels at doing to its opponents. Maxey, despite having the ball in his hands almost every possession he was on the floor, didn't have a single turnover in nearly 40 minutes.
George, on the other hand, might have had his most complete game with the 76ers, going for 23 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block in 39 minutes. He also played strong defense on Boston's wings and hit several timely shots.
"He was huge, man," Maxey said of George. "He was huge. Paul has been really, really good. He's been consistent. He's been a great voice, a great leader for all of us, and we appreciate him."
And then there was Embiid, who was exactly three weeks out from an emergency appendectomy in Houston. While his touch remains off -- he shot 6-for-18 from the field, including 1-for-5 from 3, and is now 2-for-16 from 3-point range across the three games he has played in this series -- he had eight assists to just one turnover and provided Philadelphia with a safe harbor to operate its offense out of all night.
He also didn't allow Jayson Tatum and Brown to take advantage of him in the pick-and-roll. The Celtics duo had solid but unspectacular games, combining for 35 points on 13-for-30 shooting with five assists and eight turnovers.
"You look at all the shots I'm getting, everything is short, in and out," Embiid said.
He added: "At some point I'm about to have an extremely efficient night. Hopefully it's next game."
Tatum left the floor in the third quarter after an apparent issue with his lower leg, an obvious concern as the superstar forward approaches the one-year anniversary of his torn Achilles tendon in last year's Eastern Conference semifinal series against the New York Knicks.
Tatum briefly went back toward the locker room after subbing out of the game, eventually returning to the bench early in the fourth quarter. At that point, though, with Philadelphia leading 88-65, Mazzulla chose to wave the white flag with 10:24 remaining and sub in his deep bench.
Afterward, Mazzulla said Tatum wasn't hurt, and Tatum himself downplayed it. saying it should have no impact on his availability moving forward.
"Yeah, you all probably saw when I went to the back, saw me on the bike," Tatum said. "My leg just was a little stiff when I came out in the third quarter. But, you know, just kind of assessing the moment, like, the game was a little out of reach. We took the starters out and let the bench guys go in."
The Celtics will be hoping to advance in the playoffs for the ninth time in 10 years, and to take down Philadelphia for a seventh consecutive time. But even after two consecutive strong performances, Embiid's return and seemingly sorting out some advantages in the matchup, Nurse cautioned anyone reading too much into the way the 76ers had played the past couple of games.
"I think we played really well. I think that it doesn't really matter that much, though," Nurse said. "I mean, we've seen games like this. This is just one game. That's one story. And you're going to go back, and it's just not going to flip a switch and happen again. ... We're going to have to really, really dig in and focus and prepare and get ready for adjustments, and we're going to have to give a tremendous effort.
"It's nice to win a couple in a row and it's nice to win, play the way we did tonight, but it really does not matter. Each game's its own game."