Joel Embiid tossed in 33 points and added eight assists as the visiting Philadelphia 76ers avoided elimination by beating the Boston Celtics 113-97 on Tuesday in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

Embiid, who missed the first three games of the series following an appendectomy, went to the locker room with an apparent knee injury with 4:35 to play in the third quarter, but returned to the game with 2:00 left in the third.

“Obviously he was very, very good,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said. “Give him credit. He worked really hard to get back through the procedure that he had. Played a lot of minutes. I was super-impressed with him on the defensive end tonight.”

Tyrese Maxey added 25 points and 10 rebounds for the seventh-seeded 76ers, who entered the fourth quarter down one but outscored the Celtics 28-11 over the final 12 minutes. Paul George finished the game with 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists as Philadelphia cut its deficit in the best-of-seven series to 3-2.

Second-seeded Boston received 24 points and 16 rebounds from Jayson Tatum, and 22 points from Jaylen Brown. Neemias Queta had eight points and 14 rebounds. The Celtics shot 36 of 89 from the field.

“I mean it’s disappointing,” Boston’s Payton Pritchard said. “Every game you lose in the playoffs is disappointing. But the playoffs is life of its own. You never know when you’re gonna get it done, so you gotta move on and get ready for (Game 6 on) Thursday. … We don’t have time to dwell on it. We’ve got to go to Philly tomorrow and get ready for Thursday.”

Boston went in front for the first time on a Brown layup that made it 16-15 with 2:59 left in the first. The Celtics led 23-21 entering the second.

Boston extended its advantage to 42-31 on a Tatum 3-pointer, but the 76ers moved to within two points, 50-48, following a Maxey 3-pointer with 2:10 remaining in the half. Boston scored the next seven points and had a 57-50 halftime lead.

The Celtics stretched their lead to 13 points, 63-50, less than two minutes into the third, but a VJ Edgecombe 3-pointer pulled Philadelphia within one point, 66-65, with 6:37 to play in the quarter. Boston was up 86-85 at the end of three.

Philadelphia took an 88-86 lead on a George 3-pointer early in the fourth, and had its largest lead to that point after Edgecombe knocked down a 3-pointer that made it 109-94 with 2:25 to play.

The Celtics shot 3-for-22 from the floor in the fourth quarter.

“Just missed some shots,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. “I thought we got some good looks. Weren’t able to capitalize on them.”

“We were able to execute what we wanted to do defensively — weren’t blowing assignments and guarded hard,” Nurse said of his team’s fourth-quarter performance. “Everybody did a good job of guarding their man. … We knew we needed to do a better job on the defensive end.”

–Field Level Media

In a series that has been devoid of impact players, the Los Angeles Lakers will get another chance to advance into the Western Conference semifinals when they play host to the Houston Rockets in Game 5 of their first-round series on Wednesday.

The Rockets staved off elimination in Game 4 and won their first game of the series with a 115-96 victory on Sunday. Without Kevin Durant for the third time in four games, Houston received 23 points and seven assists from Amen Thompson, while Tari Eason added 20 points.

Houston turned aggressive defense into 24 turnovers that led directly to 30 points and also held Los Angeles to 22.7% (5 of 22) from 3-point range. Eason added a game-high five steals to go along with eight rebounds.

“He just kinda goes rogue at times,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said of Eason.

Following Eason’s lead, the Rockets are embracing the outlaw mentality and expressing confidence, even while down 3-1 in the series.

“We’re obviously the better team,” said Houston’s Jabari Smith Jr., who has averaged 18.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in the series. “I just feel like from top to bottom … we’re the better team.”

Durant missed Game 1 because of a right knee contusion and sat out Games 3 and 4 with a left ankle sprain. He was ruled out for Game 5 Tuesday night.

“He is doing the conditioning and other aspects to try and get back,” Udoka said Tuesday of Durant.

The Lakers have been without their top two leading scorers in the series in Luka Doncic (hamstring) and Austin Reaves (oblique). Doncic is not expected to play regardless of how long the series lasts with Reaves trending toward a return Wednesday as a game-time decision, according to head coach JJ Redick.

“JJ specifically was like, you have to be comfortable with your body and what you can do to go out there and help us be successful,” Reaves said. “And I want to get back out there as fast as I can. I feel good and trending in the right direction.”

Since Doncic and Reaves both were injured in an April 2 regular-season game at Oklahoma City, Los Angeles has gone 6-3 without the duo, including playoff games.

LeBron James, at age 41, has led the Lakers in the series with 21.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists. Sharpshooter Luke Kennard has stepped into a starting role and delivered 17.8 points while shooting 45% from 3-point range.

Veteran Marcus Smart has also stepped up his play with 17.5 points and 7.5 assists, up from 9.3 points and 3.0 assists in the regular season.

No team has ever lost an NBA playoff series after taking a 3-0 lead, and the Lakers are determined to not be the first. Redick is not taking anything for granted and gave a blunt assessment on what it will take to move on.

“You have to kill them,” Redick said. “It’s difficult to kill someone. Survival instinct says, ‘I want to stay alive.’ And so, you’ve got to be able to kill them. That’s what’s difficult.”

–Field Level Media

The NBA has shared details of its anti-tanking, “3-2-1 lottery” draft reform plan with team general managers, according to a report from ESPN.

There could be minor tweaks to the proposal ahead of it being voted on by the league’s owners on May 28, but the larger points of the plan have a majority of support and it is likely to be approved, per ESPN.

The “3-2-1 lottery” proposal is named for the number of lottery balls teams would be eligible to receive for the draft lottery drawing. It would expand the lottery from 14 to 16 teams, all of whom would have a chance at the No. 1 overall pick.

The teams with the worst records, though, will no longer have the best odds. The bottom three teams would fall into the relegation area and receive two lottery balls for the No. 1 pick.

Instead, the teams that miss the playoffs and play-in tournament but stay out of the relegation zone (fourth through 10th from the bottom of the standings) would be tied for the best odds with three lottery balls.

The ninth and 10th seeds of the play-in tournament would also receive two balls, while the loser of the play-in games between the seventh and eighth seeds would earn one lottery ball.

Additionally, there would be rules under this new format about the frequency with which teams could earn certain tiers of picks. No team could earn the No. 1 pick in consecutive years or more than three consecutive top-five picks.

Fighting against tanking has been a recent talking point for NBA commissioner Adam Silver. This proposal would also reportedly give the league the ability to reduce a team’s lottery odds or even change a team’s draft positioning if it is deemed to be tanking.

Per the report, this proposal would expire after the 2029 draft — the last draft ahead of the current collective bargaining agreement, which expires after the 2029-30 season. This sunset provision would allow owners to continue the “3-2-1” system or transition to a new draft lottery format at that time.

–Field Level Media

Former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones accepted a plea agreement, becoming the first to take a deal in the federal gambling investigation that led to more than two dozen arrests.

Jones, 49, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Tuesday, one day after former Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier learned prosecutors were adding charges against him.

“I would like to sincerely apologize to the court, my family, my peers and also the National Basketball Association,” Jones said in brief comments in the courtroom.

Jones confessed to participating in what feds labeled “Operation Royal Flush” and being a “face card” in at least three rigged poker games between October 2020 and September 2023. He said two of the games were held in Miami and he participated knowing the games were rigged.

Evidence shared by the prosecution placed Jones at all three games through witness testimony and text messages recovered from seized cell phones and iCloud accounts and wire activity detected in interstate transfers of funds. The investigation turned up technology that made cheating easy without detection, the prosecution said.

Sentencing was scheduled for January 2027.

His guilty pleas on Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Marutollo were in two separate federal cases in which Jones is named: U.S. v. Earnest and U.S. v. Aiello.

A sentencing range of five years to 78 months was tied to the case prior to the arraignment late last year. Jones agreed on Tuesday to the terms of forfeiture of no less than $38,000 tied to his winnings during the scheme.

Jones played 11 seasons in the NBA and crossed over with LeBron James in Cleveland and Miami, later coaching without an official title with the Lakers. Prosecutors contended he shared privileged information, including at least one instance involving James’ injury status against the Milwaukee Bucks, for the ill-gotten gains of a professionally-tied gambling ring.

The sentence in that case is not more than 27 months.

Jones initially pleaded not guilty in December. He can be credited up to two years for entering a plea agreement.

–Field Level Media

The Detroit Pistons need a three-game winning streak to avoid joining an infamous list. Only six top seeds in NBA history have flamed out in the first round of the playoffs to a No. 8 seed.

The Pistons trail Orlando 3-1 in their best-of-seven series after a 94-88 road loss on Monday. The series resumes in Detroit on Wednesday night.

Detroit has to regain its swagger or join the 2023 Milwaukee Bucks as the only top seed since 2012 to get knocked out this early in the postseason.

The troubling reality for the Pistons, who won 60 regular-season games, is that the Magic — with the exception of Detroit’s third-quarter outburst in Game 2 — consistently have looked like the better team.

The Magic have throttled the All-Star pick-and-roll combination of Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren, leaving Detroit’s offense in tatters.

“The way that we’ve been playing, that stuff’s not good enough to win games in this league,” Cunningham said. “This league’s too good, they’re a good team. They’re outrebounding us, turning me over and we haven’t hit enough shots. Our defense hasn’t caught its footing. It’s not shocking that we’re losing games playing like that.”

With Duren neutralized by counterpart Wendell Carter Jr. and Orlando’s defensive coverage, Cunningham has been left to carry the offense. He’s averaging 29.5 points in the series but shooting just 42.4% overall and 28.6% from 3-point range. Turnovers have been a bigger issue. He’s averaging 6.8 giveaways in the series and committed eight in Game 4.

“Yeah, it’s frustrating,” Cunningham said. “A lot of it was on myself; I was frustrated with my own play. Having numbers, not making plays in transition. Things like that, the things I do best, just not being able to make plays for my team. They killed us on the offensive glass, our defense didn’t hold up. All that stuff. We’re all frustrated with all that stuff. We’ve gotta fix it and come back better.”

The Pistons’ lack of 3-point shooting has come back to bite them — they’re making just 27.5 percent of their attempts in the series.

Orlando realizes that in order to complete the upset, it will have to grind out another victory against a now desperate club.

“This is a team that won 60 games,” guard Desmond Bane said. “I’m sure they will not blink an eye about being able to win three games in a row. They did it multiple times during the regular season. We are going to have to come ready to play. I’m excited about the challenge.”

Paolo Banchero (21.0 points per game) and Bane (19.0) have been the Magic’s offensive leaders in the series. Franz Wagner scored 19 points in Game 4 but left with calf tightness. His availability for Wednesday and the remainder of the series is a big question mark.

In his absence, Jamal Cain made a major impact, including a monster dunk over Duren in the second half. Cain finished with eight points and nine rebounds.

“We’ve put ourselves in position to try to get four (wins),” coach Jamahl Mosley said. “Right now, it means nothing. We have the advantage and now we’ve just got to make sure we’ve try to keep that advantage.”

–Field Level Media

Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens was named the NBA Basketball Executive of the Year for the second time in three seasons on Tuesday.

Stevens’ Celtics finished with the second-best record (56-26) in the Eastern Conference in 2025-26 and secured a top-two playoff seed for the fifth time in his five seasons in his current role.

Boston accomplished that despite parting ways with Al Horford, Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday before the season and only having All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum for 16 games after he recovered from an Achilles injury.

Stevens, who also won the award in 2023-24, is the 12th executive to receive the honor multiple times since it was first presented in 1972-73.

Stevens, 49, received 11 first-place votes and 69 total points in voting by his fellow executives. Atlanta Hawks general manager Onsi Saleh was second with 41 points, one more than Detroit Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon.

Before joining Boston’s front office, Stevens served as the team’s head coach for eight seasons and tallied a 354-282 record. During his 13-year tenure with the franchise, the Celtics have made 12 playoff appearances.

The Celtics currently have a 3-1 lead in their first-round series with the Philadelphia 76ers. Game 5 is on Tuesday night in Boston.

–Field Level Media