Photo : Mitchell Leff ( Getty Joel Embiid didn’t put up the hugest numbers in Thursday night’s Game 6, but if anything his pedestrian production underscores just how dominant Embiid can be when he’s not pooping out and coughing up various vital internal organs. Thursday night he was feeling good, and as a consequence the 76ers beat the living hell out of the visiting Raptors, by the misleading score of 112–101, to extend the series and force a Game 7. Advertisement Embiid’s line—an unspectacular 17 points and 12 rebounds on ugly 36 percent shooting—falls well short of describing how much he affected the action at both ends. The Sixers outscored the Raptors by a whopping 40 points during Embiid’s 35-plus minutes, in a game they won by just 11 (for comparison’s sake, the 76ers were outscored by a point during J.J. Redick’s 30 minutes of run). Just by having the energy and electrolytes to rumble up and down the court with any urgency, Embiid changes the shape of an NBA game. In contrast with Tuesday night’s stinker—when six of Embiid’s 10 shots came from beyond the arc, and he took just two free throws, and grabbed exactly zero offensive rebounds—Embiid was far more aggressive about forcing his way into the paint and battling on the low block, pressing his enormous physical advantages over Toronto’s shaky big men. That’s a lot easier commitment to make when you’re neither quaking with gut pain nor woozy with a head cold. But Embiid’s biggest and most impressive contributions, of course, came on the defensive end, where when he is healthy he is one of the very best players in basketball. Tuesday night he was getting dunked on by Kawhi Leonard; Thursday night he was doing this: And just a few seconds later, to fully make the point, Embiid was doing this: Embiid had help from Jim Butts and Tobias Harris and—finally—Ben Simmons, but it really is something how much he can influence a game at both ends just by being upright and fully engaged. Embiid hasn’t been able to string together consecutive star-like performances in this series, but with Game 7 coming up Sunday in Toronto, now is the time. The long break means plenty of time for rest and recovery, but it also means plenty of time for Embiid to pick up some weird alien spore or lose several fingers. Just to be safe, the Sixers should lock him away in quarantine between now and then.<doc-sep>Every team is largely dependent on its superstar, but with the Philadelphia 76ers and Joel Embiid, that connection is even more pronounced. When Embiid is good, Philly can, and often does, look like a legit title contender. When Embiid is bad, they can, and often do, look like a lottery team. In Thursday's 112-101 Game 6 win over the Toronto Raptors, Embiid wasn't good, he was great -- even if the traditional numbers looked pedestrian -- and Philly is now headed for a Game 7. Embiid, who was downright bad in four of the first five games of this series, had 17 points and 12 rebounds in Game 6. He shot 5-of-14 from the field. He had two blocks. One steal. A couple 3-pointers. He played 35 minutes. He had five turnovers. And he was a ... PLUS-40! Typically plus-minus numbers for a single game are pretty useless. But when a dude is plus-40 in a game his team wins by 11, you have to stand up and give that man a round of applause. The Sixers, if you reverse the math, were outscored by 29 points in the 13 minutes Embiid was on the bench. Just about every time he came out, the Raptors would string together a run. Then Brett Brown, with no choice in a do-or-die game, would promptly do away the normal rotations and put Embiid back in, and the run would stop. And, as you can tell by the 17 points, it wasn't Embiid's offense carrying the day. He wasn't bad on that end. He was controlled and allowed Jimmy Butler and Ben Simmons to be the aggressors, he hit some jumpers to extend the Raptors' defense and open the lane, and he was just generally active in motions that created looks for others. But it was his defense that dominated. He was everywhere -- dropping and containing two on pick-and-rolls, recovering to shooters, stuffing Marc Gasol into a completely irrelevant seven-point performance. And then he did a few things like this: And this: It's fitting that Simmons finished that last clip with a breakout layup. He made it a point to push the pace in Game 6, and with Butler aggressive in the half court, this is Philly at its best. Tobias Harris and J.J. Redick combined for 27 points. Mike Scott chipped in 11 off the bench. Philly is just a different team when it's playing with energy. Again, credit Butler for a lot of that. He was sensational in the first half and finished with 25 points and eight assists. Butler has to create consistent offense for Philly, because Simmons' contributions are more circumstantial, and thus inconsistent. When Butler is playing like a No. 1 on offense, Embiid doesn't have to be spectacular on both ends. He can be, but he doesn't have to be. His defense is what really makes him a superstar, anyway. He has great skill and feet and a wildly versatile arsenal for a man his size, but the defense is what truly sets him apart. When he's at his best, as he was in Game 6, you can make the argument he's the most impactful defender in the league. So now here we go for Game 7 on Sunday in Toronto. This is why the Raptors went and got Kawhi Leonard, for games like this, and if The Process is ever going to come to full fruition, you knew it was going to have to go through a series like this at some point. This is gut-check time. When the Sixers win, it's not usually about pristine execution or lights-out shooting. It's about energy. It's about a bunch of talented players who don't always fit perfectly just kind of figuring it out on sheer ability and will. But it all starts with Joel Embiid, and for as dominant as he was in Game 6, if he doesn't bring this same kind of force in Game 7, the Sixers' season will end with him, too.<doc-sep>Joel Embiid discusses his mentality coming into Game 6 against the Raptors as well as preparing for Game 7. (0:48) PHILADELPHIA -- The Process continues. Facing elimination and an offseason rife with speculation were the Philadelphia 76ers to lose, Joel Embiid bounced back to lead a 112-101 win over the Toronto Raptors on Thursday night and force a decisive Game 7 in the Eastern Conference semifinals. After slogging through Philadelphia's losses in Games 4 and 5, as the Sixers fell behind in the series 3-2, Embiid looked as if he hadn't quite shaken his upper-respiratory infection in the first half of Game 6. He was 1-for-8 from the field, and while the Sixers held a 15-point lead at the break, he hadn't put his stamp on the game. Then the third quarter came. Embiid put up 10 points on 3-for-5 shooting, with six rebounds and two blocks -- both of them coming on Kawhi Leonard -- and played 11 of the 12 minutes. The Sixers led by 20 heading into the fourth, and they were well on their way to tying the series and embracing their All-Star big man's return to form. "Coming in, knowing that this was a do-or-die situation," Embiid said, "I knew that I had to come in with high spirits. ... That's what I got to keep on doing -- do the little things, and everything's going to follow." Embiid finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds in 36 minutes -- the most he has played in a game this postseason -- as well as a plus-minus of plus-40, the best mark by a player in this season's playoffs. "It's the playoffs," Embiid said. "I got to play. If I got to play 45 minutes and push myself out there, that's what I got to do. If that's what it takes to win, if my presence on the court is needed, I got to be there. It doesn't matter if it takes the whole game, and I'm fine with it. "Going to keep on pushing myself, and in Game 7, we're going to need it. I'm going to need to be on the court, and I intend to be ready for anything -- if I have to play a whole game." Acknowledging the pressure his team faced Thursday, Sixers coach Brett Brown, who has heard his owner's expectation to advance further than the second round loud and clear, said the collective mindset was apparent. "The mood in the locker room as we went through sort of an early shootaround -- our version of shootaround -- before, you could sense the serious side," Brown said. "They got the moment." "Our backs were on the line tonight; I feel like our backs are still on the line," Joel Embiid said after helping the 76ers force a Game 7 against the Raptors with Thursday night's win. "So, we just got to do the same thing." AP Photo/Chris Szagola Ben Simmons seized that moment early, registering eight of his 21 points and five of his six assists in the first quarter, as the Sixers raced out to a 29-21 lead. The Sixers improved to 3-0 in the series when Simmons dished out five or more assists. "What he did today was lots of the reasons he was an NBA All-Star at age 22, as an NBA point guard with the ball," Brown said. "I really loved his no turnovers, and I really loved his offensive rebounds. I thought those two things, amongst all those comments I just made, are what stood out the most. It's the evolution of a 22-year-old, 6-10 point guard [who] used to be a college 4 man." Simmons and Embiid -- Philadelphia's two tantalizing young talents who often receive as much criticism for their drawbacks (Simmons' shooting deficiency, Embiid's broken-down body) as they do praise for their skills -- heard compliments on Thursday. "He's such a force. He draws a lot of attention so for us we can make plays," Simmons said of Embiid. "He's been doing well for the circumstances he's been under." As Jimmy Butler added about Simmons, "That's how we need him to be. Along with Jo and everybody else, you can't key in on one or two guys on this team because we have so many guys that can put the ball in the basket." They will play again Sunday with a chance to bring the Sixers franchise to the conference finals for the first time in 18 years. "Basketball is fun," Embiid said. "I understand that it's Game 7, but got to come in and fight -- just like we did tonight. Our backs were on the line tonight; I feel like our backs are still on the line. So we just got to do the same thing."<doc-sep>The Sixers had a tall task ahead of them following Tuesday night’s drubbing in Game 5: Win two elimination games, including Thursday at home against the 58-win Toronto Raptors with Joel Embiid nowhere near 100 percent and Ben Simmons blanketed by all-world defender Kawhi Leonard. Philadelphia responded in emphatic fashion in the first leg of that journey, with a 112-101 thrashing of the Raptors at the Wells Fargo Center that evened the series at 3-3, and forced a winner-take-all Game 7 back in Toronto on Sunday night. With a team this talented, and competition so tough, doing so wasn’t the responsibility of a single player or coach. It would take a full team effort to pull themselves out of this hole, and while they’re only halfway there, a full team effort is exactly what they got last night. That meant another strong performance from Jimmy Butler, who has become much of the focal point in Philadelphia’s half-court offense.<doc-sep>
Joel Embiid has struggled to play like his usual self against the Toronto Raptors, but on Thursday night, his play took a positive turn. Embiid has battled a stomach illness as well as an upper respiratory infection in the Philadelphia 76ers’ series against the Raptors. He hasn’t been effective on either end of the floor, and his scoring and defense has been missed. But in Game 6, with the Sixers facing elimination, Embiid helped his team stay afloat. The Sixers forced a Game 7, defeating the Raptors 112-101. Embiid recorded a +40, the highest plus-minus of his career, according to Basketball Reference. He scored 17 points on 35.7 percent shooting, along with grabbing 12 rebounds and posting two blocks. Brett Brown: “Tonight you saw a healthier Joel Embiid. That plus-40 number is stupid.” #Sixers — Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) May 10, 2019 This is the best game Embiid has played in the series since Game 3, when the Sixers trounced the Raptors 116-95. He scored 33 points in that game, and though he didn’t shoot a good percentage in Game 6, Thursday’s game marks the most points Embiid has scored since Game 3. But Embiid got the highest plus-minus of his career because of grabbing rebounds and playing good interior defense. Embiid was a force on the defensive end, and as the Raptors drove into the paint, his presence was a factor. In the video below, Embiid helped ignite the Sixers’ fastbreak, blocking Kawhi Leonard as he attempted a layup. Embiid drops into the lane often to contest defenders, but that’s his main strength as a rim protector. He’s skilled at tracking players’ shots and blocking them on time. With the Sixers facing elimination, they needed Embiid to contribute in some way. He’s struggled to produce in this series, but Embiid’s performance aligned perfectly with his teammates. Jimmy Butler and Ben Simmons were the Sixers’ leading scorers, so Embiid didn’t have to score too much. Instead, Embiid’s impact on the Sixers’ defense was more important than his scoring. If he can have a similar performance in Game 7, then the Sixers should be positioned to have a chance at advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals. The Sixers and Raptors will play Game 7 on Sunday at Scotiabank Arena at 7 p.m. EST.