Tyrese Maxey and the Philadelphia 76ers edged Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics 102-100 on Tuesday, thanks to a late Kelly Oubre Jr. putback, securing a home win despite the absence of Joel Embiid.
Embiid was ruled out before the game with right knee soreness, with head coach Nick Nurse providing updates on the injury that kept him sidelined against Boston.
“He had some imaging on that this afternoon and doctors are here tonight to go over that with him,” Nurse said, per The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey.
With their second-leading scorer sidelined, Maxey carried Philadelphia, finishing with 21 points, nine assists and five rebounds to lift the short-handed 76ers past Boston.
Oubre Jr. added 12 points and seven rebounds, Andre Drummond contributed a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Justin Edwards chipped in 22 points off the bench.
Brown finished with 24 points, six rebounds and five assists, while Derrick White added 18 points on 4-of-11 shooting from beyond the arc in the loss.
With the win, Philly improved to 7-4 as the Celtics dropped to 5-7 on the season.
Maxey stepping up in Embiid’s absence wowed NBA fans as he lifted the 76ers past the Celtics.
The 76ers held a slim 10-point lead over the Celtics at halftime, led by 10 points from Drummond, while Justin Edwards added nine and Maxey chipped in eight. Boston’s Brown entered the break with seven points, while the rest of the starters combined for just nine.
Boston battled back to gain a 77–71 lead entering the fourth quarter thanks to eight straight points from White including back-to-back three pointers.
Down the stretch, White hit another three-pointer to pull the Celtics within one with just under two minutes remaining, and a free throw from Brown tied the game at 100 with 33.5 seconds left. Oubre Jr. made a decisive basket on an offensive outback with 8.7 seconds remaining, and despite White’s hot shooting, he could not convert on the potential game-winner, giving the 76ers the victory.
The Celtics host the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday and the 76ers will hit the road to face the Detroit Pistons on Friday.
