Between Joel Embiid’s lingering illness and Kawhi Leonard’s brilliant playoff form, the Raptors-Sixers matchup has incorporated all sorts of drama meshed with quality basketball.
The Raptors finished their regular season with a solid 58-24(0.707) record while the Sixers ended with 51-31(0.622), nine games behind Toronto on the East leaderboard. Being a clash between the second and third seed of the Eastern Conference, it has proven to be as tight as it could possibly have been.
Let’s draw out some prominent takeaways from this hardy showing by the Sixers in an elimination game.
#1 Jimmy Butler stepped up to the challenge; All five Philly starters score in double digits.
Jimmy Butler played 35 minutes in the ball-game and on an efficient 9-of-18(50%) shooting night, dropped a team-high total of 25 points. Along with an impressive scoring show, Butler chipped in 6 rebounds, 8 assistsa and a couple of steals as well on the defensive end of the floor.
According to Sixers stats,
When asked about Jimmy’s performance, Coach Brown had nothing but praise,
Joel Embiid finished with a characteristic double-double as all starters contrbuted at least 11 points to the Sixers’ winning cause.
#2 Toronto’s three-point shooting slump catches up to them.
With a respectable regular season conversion of over 36% from beyond the arc, the Raptors are struggling to get it done against Philly in the ongoing postseason serise. Kyle Lowry is shooting a miserable 28% from deep in the playoffs so far and the team shot a collective 9-of-36(25%) from long-range in their most recent loss to Embiid and his Sixers.
Veteran sharp shooter Danny Green missed six of his eight 3-point attempts and finished with just 8 points in a game where Toronto could’ve got rid of the pesky Sixers once and for all.
Moreover, Kawhi Leonard, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka shot a combined 0-of-10 from beyond the arc in Game 6. The Raptors missed 14 of their 17 3s in the first itself and things just went downhill from that point onwards.
#3 Ben Simmons found his long-lost aggressiveness in Game 6. But is it too little too late?
Ben Simmons is the piece of the puzzle that was missing all throughout the series for Philadelphia. He scored 10 or fewer points in four of the first five contests, exhibiting an uncharacteristic absence of aggression. However, he broke out of his shell in Game 6 to put together a 21 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists(on 9-of-13 shooting) performance and save his team from elimination.
He attacked the rim at multiple occassions and bounced back to play his natural game which compensates for his lack of shooting range pretty comprehensively. With just one more clash remaining, Simmons’ resurgence is pivotal to Philly’s success considering his primary ball handling role. Looking at the way his game is shaping up to be, the Sixers can be a lethal force in the near future.
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