The Philadelphia 76ers stayed alive in their first-round series with a 106-93 win over the Boston Celtics on Thursday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena, setting up a decisive Game 7 in Boston. After the game, head coach Nick Nurse kept the focus on process rather than celebration.
Asked about a major swing in defensive rebounding, Nurse said, “I don’t know. We just did a better job. Guys are doing a better job of checking out and moving a little quicker towards the long rebounds. I think it’s probably that simple.” Philadelphia limited Boston to eight offensive rebounds after a stronger first-half effort on the glass.
Paul George’s two-way impact drew attention throughout the game, and Nurse did not hesitate in his evaluation. “He was great. I’ve been saying that the whole series. He’s been excellent on defense the entire game,” Nurse said. He added, “He’s got to battle them every possession. He is battling.”
Nurse also pointed to George’s growing confidence offensively. “I just feel like he feels like he can score out there. It was good to see him. You’re right, those are kind of big scoreboard-moving buckets,” he said. “He makes a few of those.”
Despite the win, Nurse emphasized restraint in how the performance should be interpreted. “First of all, very good game by us. I think we played really well,” he said. “I’m probably most impressed with our defensive effort… I don’t say this, but it doesn’t really matter that much though.”
The head coach stressed consistency over momentum. “We’ve seen games like this. It’s just one game, one story,” Nurse said. “We’re going to have to really dig in and focus and prepare and get ready for adjustments.”
On Joel Embiid’s orchestration of the offense, Nurse highlighted his decision-making. “He was commanding the offense. He was getting the ball to people,” he said. “We have to do that. We can’t overuse the high two-man game.”
Defensively, Nurse credited Philadelphia’s perimeter discipline. “We’re trying to contest them. We don’t want too many of them to be wide open looks,” he said about Boston’s three-point shooting. “We got to fight around and at least challenge from the side or behind.”
Kelly Oubre Jr.’s effort also drew praise from the coach. “He’s on one of those two guys the entire series… it just takes a lot of work,” Nurse said. “He’s played very hard… these last two he’s been very good.”
