NBA Playoffs: Maxey's Heroics Lead 76ers to Victory, Cavs and Bucks Also Win

Tyrese Maxey saved Philadelphia from elimination with seven points in the final 25 seconds of regulation, finished with 46 and led the 76ers to a 112-106 overtime victory over the New York Knicks on Tuesday night in Game 5 of their first-round series. The 76ers trailed by six points with 28 seconds left in regulation before Maxey pulled out a comeback that evoked memories of Reggie Miller's eight points in nine seconds for Indiana at Madison Square Garden in 1995. 'Going through my mind right there was just, find a way to survive,' Maxey said after the game. The All-Star guard converted a four-point play with 25 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to two, and after Josh Hart's free throw, pulled up from 35 feet to tie the game at 97-97 with 8.1 seconds left in front of a stunned crowd that was preparing to celebrate the Knicks' second straight trip to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Joel Embiid finished with 19 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists for the 76ers, who will host Game 6 on Thursday night trailing 3-2 in the series. In Cleveland, Donovan Mitchell scored 28 points, Evan Mobley blocked Franz Wagner's layup in the final seconds and the Cavaliers survived a scare from Orlando, holding off Paolo Banchero and the Magic to take a 3-2 lead in their Eastern Conference series. The Cavs, who were embarrassed by the Magic while dropping two games in Orlando last week, regrouped inside a roaring Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. It took everything they had. After Mitchell missed a jumper with 15.7 seconds left, Wagner drove the left side for a potential game-tying layup but was denied at the rim with six seconds left by Mobley, who smacked the ball off the backboard.

Mitchell was fouled and made two free throws with 3.2 seconds remaining to make 104-100. There wasn't enough time for the Magic, who got a 3-pointer in the final second from Banchero, giving him 39 points. In Tuesday night's other playoff game, Khris Middleton and Bobby Portis each scored 29 points and short-handed Milwaukee kept their season alive by routing Indiana in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. Portis had the highest point total of his playoff career and added 10 rebounds to make amends two nights after he was ejected from a Game 4 loss. Middleton had his third straight game with at least 25 points, and he also contributed 12 rebounds and five assists.

The Pacers still lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Thursday in Indianapolis. The Pacers are trying to advance beyond the opening round for the first time since 2014. Bucks coach Doc Rivers continues to express hope that Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard can return from injuries before the end of the series. Rivers was asked after the game about the potential availability of the duo. 'I don't know how to answer that,' Rivers said.

'I know I hope. I think they're very, very, very close [to a return].' Tyrese Maxey drops 46 points and Joel Embiid tallies a triple-double as the 76ers earn an improbable comeback victory over the Knicks to force Game 6. (3:40) NEW YORK -- After the New York Knicks completed a miraculous comeback in Game 2 of their first-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers at Madison Square Garden last week, Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey vowed to make up for his turnover and missed shot in the closing moments that helped cost his team that game. Tuesday night, with Philadelphia's season seemingly over, Maxey not only made up for it -- he somehow did something even more absurd. Thanks to his seven points in the final 28.9 seconds of regulation -- back-to-back 3-pointers, the first of which he was fouled on by Mitchell Robinson for a four-point play -- the 76ers erased a six-point lead inside the final 30 seconds and went on to claim a 112-106 overtime victory in Game 5, somehow sending this series back to Philadelphia with the Knicks up 3-2.

'What was going through my mind was trying to survive,' said Maxey, who had 46 points in 52 minutes. 'Our season is on the line. I trust my work. I trust what I've done all my life, and I just tried to get to a spot, raise up and knock that shot down.' What made this game all the more remarkable -- in a series that's been chock-full of wild moments and momentum swings through five games -- is that it was the absolute inverse of what happened in Game 2, when the Knicks stormed back from down five inside the final 30 seconds to win in regulation. Before these playoffs, there had been only three games in the past 25 years that had seen a team recover from a deficit of at least five points inside the final 30 seconds and win the game.

But after Maxey's heroics Tuesday night, it's now happened twice in the same series in a 10-day span. 'Just a tough way to lose a ballgame,' Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. 'We had a lead. We've got to play tougher with the lead. We fouled in a situation that we didn't want to foul in, and then Maxey makes a big shot.

'So, we've got to do better.' Just as it was for the 76ers in Game 2, for 47 minutes and 30 seconds, it seemed like the Knicks had done more than enough to win the series and advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals. New York hasn't closed out a series on its home floor in 25 years -- since Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals in 1999 -- and hasn't won a series in back-to-back playoffs since advancing to the Eastern Conference finals in 2000. When Deuce McBride hit a jumper with 28.9 seconds to go to put New York up by 6, Sixers coach Nick Nurse called a timeout and for the next three minutes the sellout crowd was making so much noise the press box was actually shaking. 'It was tough,' Nurse told ESPN, when asked what the mood in the huddle was at the time. 'Other than I just said, 'It's still a two-possession game.' We had a play called to try to get Tyrese a 3, and they ran it.' Then, Nurse smiled.

'Everything was cool after that, right?' One could say that. Still, even after all of the events inside those final 30 seconds -- Maxey getting fouled by Robinson on the 3 and making the free throw; Josh Hart splitting a pair of free throws; Maxey pulling up from just inside half court and burying a triple to tie the score; and then Jalen Brunson 's potential game-winning shot being blocked by Nicolas Batum , causing Maxey to let out a roar as both teams trudged back to their benches -- there were still five minutes of overtime to be played. And while Brunson scored all nine points for New York in overtime, finishing with 40 points on 15-for-32 shooting in just under 51 minutes, it was the combination of Maxey and Embiid, who despite finishing with his first playoff triple-double was unhappy with his personal performance, that made three big defensive plays in the final 90 seconds of overtime to close things out. But on a night when Embiid -- who missed shootaround with a migraine, is playing through Bell's palsy, a neurological condition that's impacted the left side of his face, and is still getting back on his feet after returning from knee surgery earlier this month -- shot 7-for-19 from the field and had nine turnovers in what he called a 'terrible' performance, he said he was thrilled Maxey could step up and deliver Philadelphia a win. 'Tonight, obviously based on the circumstances and knowing what was needed, based on what was happening and me not being able to be myself, he just had to do it,' said Embiid, who finished with 19 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists and 4 blocked shots.

'And