<\/amp-img><\/amp-iframe><\/div>\nAUSSIE\u2019S CAREER-HIGH MARK NOT ENOUGH<\/b><\/p>\n
The New York Knicks have taken a 3-2 series lead over the Atlanta Hawks after a dominant 126-97 win on home court, powered by a huge night from Jalen Brunson.<\/p>\n
Brunson was at his best, finishing with 39 points and eight assists in just 35 minutes as New York controlled the game from start to finish.<\/p>\n
Dyson Daniels gave Atlanta an early spark, setting a new playoff career-high with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting, finishing as the Hawks\u2019 second-highest scorer on the night.<\/p>\n
However, former NBA star Reggie Miller took aim at Daniels early in the contest after he passed up an open look which spoke to the passiveness that has limited the Australian\u2019s effectiveness on offence in the series.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you see where Daniels caught the basketball? He had a layup… but when you\u2019re asking a guy who isn\u2019t used to scoring and looking at the hoop, that\u2019s a young team for you,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n
Daniels responded later in the game, stringing together back-to-back baskets as it became clear the Knicks were willing to live with him taking shots.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I wanted to see two possessions ago. They\u2019re leaving him (open),\u201d Miller added.<\/p>\n
The Hawks were on the back foot early after a 35-22 first quarter set the tone, with New York winning every term on the way to a comfortable finish.<\/p>\n
The Knicks shot a blistering 45-of-79 (57%) from the field, including 11 threes at 42%, while Karl-Anthony Towns added 16 points, 14 rebounds and six assists in a strong all-round performance.<\/p>\n
Atlanta now heads home for a must-win Game 6 on Friday to keep their season alive.<\/p>\n
76ERS UPSET CELTICS, FORCE GAME SIX<\/b><\/p>\n
Joel Embiid scored 33 points and made eight assists to spark Philadelphia over the Boston Celtics 113-97 on Tuesday, keeping the 76ers from being eliminated in the NBA playoffs.<\/p>\n
A dominant second half by the big man from Cameroon, in just his second game back after an April 9 emergency appendectomy, enabled the Sixers to pull within 3-2 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference first round playoff matchup.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of hard. I only had one chance to go up and back (on the court) before I came back,\u201d Embiid said. <\/p>\n
\u201cUsing this game and last game to kind of get back into it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI found my rhythm in the second half. We adjusted some stuff at halftime. I feel OK. I feel good. We got a win. That\u2019s all that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
The series shifts back to Philadelphia for game six on Friday with a seventh game, if needed, in Boston on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did our job,\u201d Embiid said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to need everybody to come back to Boston.\u201d Embiid struggled with three-pointers early before dominating in the paint. \u201cWhen they got the lead early, we kept playing our game,\u201d Embiid said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI missed a couple (outside) and I went inside and found some luck.\u201d <\/p>\n
Tyrese Maxey added 25 points and 10 rebounds for the 76ers, who also had 16 points and nine rebounds from Paul George.<\/p>\n
Jayson Tatum had 24 points and 16 rebounds for Boston, which also had 22 points from Jaylen Brown.<\/p>\n
But the Celtics were outscored 28-11 in the fourth quarter, producing their fewest points in any quarter this season with the series clincher up for grabs.<\/p>\n<\/amp-img>Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) heads to the bench while being taken out of the game late the second half while trailing the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 5 of a first-round NBA playoffs basketball series, Tuesday, April 28, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo\/Charles Krupa)<\/span>Source: AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nFor Boston, the fourth quarter was as tough as it gets offensively.<\/p>\n
They managed just 11 points in the final period, struggling to find any rhythm from deep while shooting only 11-of-39 (28%) overall from three-point range, a trend that\u2019s starting to define their series.<\/p>\n
Across their two losses, the Celtics are 24-of-88 from beyond the arc (27.2%). In their three wins, that jumps to 60-of-144 (41.6%), underlining just how heavily their fortunes hinge on the long ball.<\/p>\n
Veteran Derrick White has found life difficult in this series against Philadelphia, averaging 8.2 points while shooting just 21.2% from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n
The Celtics, chasing a second NBA title in three seasons, or 76ers will face either New York or Atlanta in the second round.<\/p>\n
The Sixers have not won a playoff series since sweeping Brooklyn in the first round in 2023.<\/p>\n
The Celtics, who have missed the playoffs only once since 2007, are trying to reach the second round for the fifth year in a row and ninth time in 10 seasons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers both moved within touching distance of series progression after statement wins, with Jalen Brunson leading a dominant Knicks performance over Atlanta while Joel Embiid powered Philadelphia past Boston to swing momentum back in their favour. Read on for a full NBA playoffs wrap! Watch NBA with ESPN on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":240889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[156],"class_list":{"0":"post-240888","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}