76ers, Mavericks look to stay alive with Game 6 wins

Joel Embiid took a shot to the face that not even his mask could help him absorb. He went down in a heap and stayed on the court in pain until he could compose himself.

Game 5 would get worse in so many ways for Embiid and the 76ers.

There was the Heat’s 35-point win that pushed them to the brink of a series win. Embiid was completely banged up. His thumb. His eye.

Add a bruised ego. Embid, the NBA scoring champion, craved the MVP award that went to Denver’s Nikola Jokic for the second straight season. Embiid was an MVP finalist for the second straight season — but fell short again of the NBA’s highest regular-season individual honor.

“That’s two years in a row I put myself in that position,” Embiid said. “It didn’t happen. It’s almost like at this point, it’s whatever. Last year, I campaigned about it. This year, I answered questions when I was asked. In the next few years until I retire, to me, I don’t know what else I have to do to win it. It’s whatever. It’s about focusing, not that I wasn’t focusing in the bigger picture, but it’s really time to really put all my energy into the bigger picture, which is to win the whole thing.”

Hold up, retire in the next few years?

OK, that’s a topic for down the road, or at least the end of this season which could come for the Sixers as early as tonight. The Heat hold a 3-2 series lead after a blowout Game 5 win. The Phoenix Suns also lead the Dallas Mavericks 3-2 on the strength of a 30-point Game 5 victory.

The good news for the 76ers and Mavericks, Game 6s are both at home.

The bad?

The percentages are not in their favor.

Teams in NBA history that win Game 5 for a 3-2 series lead wind up advancing 82.2% of the time.

Embiid and the 76ers, and Luka Doncic and the Mavericks look to stave off elimination and move on with Game 7 wins and advance to the conference finals.

The home team has won every game in both series. The Suns lost in the NBA Finals last season.

“At a certain point, it just comes down to grit,” Suns guard Chris Paul said.

ASSOCIATED PRESS 76ers center Joel Embiid, in addition to losing Game 5 to the Heat in a blowout Tuesday, also found out he wasn’t named the league’s MVP — again.