Every time the 76ers walk onto the court these days, they’re almost certainly without two of their best players in Joel Embiid and Paul George. Losing that type of talent can be too much for some teams to overcome.

Maxey had 34 points and six assists for Philadelphia. Kelly Oubre Jr. had 18 points and 13 rebounds, Guerschon Yabusele had 21 and five rebounds, Ricky Council IV added 11, eight assists and seven boards, and Justin Edwards had 12 points and six rebounds. Kyle Lowry added six and Reggie Jackson had six off the bench.

The Jackson-Lowry pairing fared much, much worse than in the first half (Jackson shot 2 for 9 overall) and the Celtics’ shooting night suddenly normalized. Hauser made two threes early in the fourth quarter and Nurse called timeout after a Tatum jumper trimmed Boston’s deficit to single digits. In a flash, the Sixers’ lead evaporated completely.