Philadelphia has been eliminated from the NBA Playoffs after they had their hearts broken by the biggest shot in the history of the Toronto Raptors. Raptors freak Kawhi Leonard dropped a spellbinding dagger on the final buzzer to give his team an epic 92-90 victory. Leonard was given the ball with less than four seconds on the clock and the game tied at 90-90 — and he had nothing to work with as Joel Embiid forced him to dribble towards the corner. Instead, he dropped one of the toughest shots in NBA playoffs memory, fading away into the front row of seats, as the ball clanked around the backboard and rim before sitting on the edge of the hoop. The ball then dropped — as did the hearts of the Sixers. Just like that it was all over. The Sixers gone and the Raptors through to the eastern confernce finals against Milwaukee. Embiid weeping on the court, letting the tears pour down his face as he was comforted by Marc Gasol. Leonard mobbed by teammates, screaming and yahooing. It was pure playoffs drama. A Serge Ibaka offensive rebound was another telling dagger for the Sixers as it left them down 89-86 without the ball and just 33.6 seconds left when the clock was stopped. Offensive rebounds killed the 76ers as the Raptors clawed their way in front on the back of 16-5 offensive boards. The Sixers came into Game 7 with a 63-42 advantage on the offensive glass in this series, but that completely flipped in the series finale. The Sixers got the ball back with 24.1 seconds left after Toronto missed a three-point attempt that would have sealed the win. Instead it was all set up for Philly to send the game into overtime. Embiid was fouled in the paint with 12 seconds to play after a chaotic offensive possession which sent him to the line. His slotted free-throws left it 88-89 before the Sixers deliberately fouled Leonard with 10.8 seconds left, sending him to the charity stripe. Jimmy Butler then appeared to step-up as a potential match-winner with a diving fast-break bucket which tied the game at 90-90 with four seconds left, after he was able to break in transition and get in behind the Raptors’ defence. But that’s when Kawhi wrote himself into NBA history. Aussie Simmons admitted it was a “great shot”. “He took a tough shot. He’s an incredible player and he made it,” he said after the loss. “Jo was obviously able to get out there and put a hand up, but he’s a great player. He made a great shot. I got a lot of respect for the Raptors. The way they played, they kept grinding it out. They were tough on us. “I’m also proud of my guys. We stayed there and it was a fight.” The dagger left NBA commentators lost for words. It bounced to the top of the backboard, hit the near side of the rim again, then the other side twice before dropping in, setting off a wild celebration as the Raptors advanced to the conference finals for the second time in four seasons. 🖐🏾‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️🗣 — LeBron James (@KingJames) May 13, 2019 OH WOW - IN YOUR LIFE HAVE YOU SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THAT!!? ?KAWHI with a Tiger Woods ball hang moment for the ages.#NBA #Kawhi #Dafuck https://t.co/tPYVhLFoDU — Brett Geeves (@brettygeevz) May 13, 2019 I cannot believe what I just saw. https://t.co/hf1Y0UwPzL — Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) May 13, 2019 Cometh the hour, cometh the claw! Kawhi Leonard just made the biggest shot in Toronto Raptors franchise history. Unbelievable. Take a bow, son. Take a bow. #WeTheNorth — Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) May 13, 2019 The Toronto crowd was losing its mind as the lead changed four times in the fourth quarter. They went completely berserk when Leonard’s bucket at the death dropped in. He finished with 41 points to lead all scorers, while Embiid, who had a sluggish night at the office, still put up 21 points for the Sixers. Ibaka added 17 points, and Pascal Siakam had 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Raptors. JJ Redick had 17 points, Butler added 16, and Tobias Harris had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the losers. A Simmons baby hook over the top of Serge Ibaka initially put the Sixers back in front 78-77 with almost seven minutes to play. Butler, who had been the Sixers’ best scorer in the last quarter, turned his ankle with four minutes to play. TNT showed Butler in distress minutes later on the bench as he covered his head in a towel - but he still came back onto the court after the time-out with the game on the line. Simmons had earlier been in the zone in a frenetic first half which saw Toronto snatch a four-point lead. The margin was just three points at three-quarter time after Toronto cleaned up a series of telling offensive rebounds to take back the lead in the third quarter. With the Sixers tossing up brick after brick early, Simmons showed his class and clean ball-handing to lead the Sixers early with eight points in 15 minutes on the floor. He finished the half with a perfect two from two from the field and a perfect four from four at the foul line. He was unable to stay hot in the second half, checking out of the game with 13 points on the back of just five shots atempted for the whole game. Simmons’ intensity early was highlighted by TNT courtside analyst Rosalyn Gold-Onwude, who said she had never seen Simmons so dialled in. “That was the most engaged Ben Simmons I have ever seen,” she said after a Sixers time out late in the first quarter. “He was inside of the coaches’ huddle talking with Brett Brown, he came back to teammates telling them they had to stay with it. Joel Embiid looked a little frustrated, Ben Simmons went to him and tried to encourage him. I saw that Joel Embiid’s body language picked up, so Ben Simmons leading his team right now.”<doc-sep>The Toronto Raptors defeated the Philadelphia 76ers, 92-90, in Game 7 of this second-round series. Kawhi Leonard nailed a game-winner over Joel Embiid with time expiring, scoring 15 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Raptors to their second conference finals appearance in franchise history. Leonard scored 10 straight points for the Raptors late in the fourth quarter to seal the win. The Raptors will now take on the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals. Here are a few takeaways from Game 7: Kawhi is a cold-blooded killer The bottom line is, the Raptors are advancing to the Eastern Conference finals because of Kawhi Leonard. No disrespect to DeMar DeRozan, but there is no way this squad gets past the Sixers in this second-round series with him instead of Kawhi. Leonard scored 15 of his game-high 41 points in the fourth quarter, including 13 of the Raptors' final 15 points. During a five-minute stretch late in the fourth quarter, Leonard was the only Raptor to score, leading them to an 87-85 lead in the process. That's not even mentioning the fact that he hit the game-winning fadeaway shot from the baseline with time expiring over Embiid, when everybody knew he was going to take the last shot. This happened not long after Leonard missed his second free throw with 10.8 seconds remaining in the game, which directly led to Butler converting on a layup to tie things at 90-all with 4.2 seconds remaining. In other words, Leonard rebounded from a costly free throw and drained the game-winner with everything on the line to send the Raptors to the conference finals. That's the definition of clutch. Sixers' offense was ugly As most of you should be aware by now with the Sixers, there are games where they look great....and there are games where you wonder how they were still alive in the playoffs. This was one of those games where you thought the latter. While Philadelphia was neck-and-neck all throughout Game 7, it was because of a stingy defensive effort. However, their offense was absolutely dreadful and their execution was terrible towards the end. In the last 2:51 of the game -- when the matchup was officially decided -- they turned the ball over on a bad pass, turned the ball over on a shot-clock violation and made one field goal. To give you a further understanding of how bad the Sixers' offensive execution actually was late in the fourth quarter, they scored five points and one field goal in the last 5:47 of the game. Joel Embiid didn't post up -- or step up, for that matter -- Ben Simmons was invisible and Butler was the only Sixer to actually attempt to take over at the end of Game 7. While Leonard's clutch shot and fourth quarter heroics will dominate headlines, the Sixers' ugly offense was just as much to blame. Raptors supporting cast did nothing When I said earlier that Kawhi is the reason why the Raptors advanced to the Eastern Conference finals, that was not an understatement. He literally took over the game and did everything for them on offense in the fourth quarter. Despite all of the Sixers' offensive struggles, they had all five starters score in double figures. In other words, guys were willing to take shots and at least try to leave their imprint on offense. On the other side of the equation, the Raptors' supporting core was absolutely putrid -- and it almost looked as if guys were scared to take shots. While Serge Ibaka certainly came up big off of the bench with his 17-point and 8-rebound effort, Kyle Lowry was downright bad again and Pascal Siakam was horribly off. In continuing his trend of being worse than mediocre in the playoffs, Lowry converted on just 4-of-13 shots and 1-of-7 from 3-point range for a total of 10 points. Meanwhile, Siakam -- who has been the team's second-best player in the playoffs -- scored just 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting from the field. Collectively, the rest of the Raptors' roster scored just 51 points on 18-of-50 from the field (36.0 percent) and 5-of-21 (23.8 percent) from 3-point range outside of Kawhi. While Leonard's dominance was enough to carry them past the Sixers, it won't be enough to defeat the No. 1-seeded Bucks. The supporting cast has to step up.<doc-sep>After six hard-fought games and nearly 48 tense minutes in Game 7, Kawhi Leonard sent the Toronto Raptors to the Eastern Conference finals with a miraculous fadeaway buzzer-beater that bounced around the rim for what seemed like an eternity before it dropped through. The Philadelphia 76ers made a valiant effort, tying the game on Jimmy Butler's late breakaway layup, but ultimately Leonard was just too good. Toronto advances to face the Milwaukee Bucks in the East finals, which should be a tremendous matchup. Leonard will face off with another two-way superstar in Giannis Antetokounmpo, with the winner headed to the NBA Finals. It would be the first-ever Finals appearance for the Raptors, while the Bucks would be making their first NBA Finals since 1974. Here's everything you need to know about this second-round series. Playoff series results (Toronto wins series, 4-3) Odds and Analysis Check Sportsline's NBA pick sheet for all your daily odds. Who wins the 2019 NBA Finals? And which massive long shot can go all the way? Visit SportsLine now to see who you should back to win the NBA Finals, all from the proven model that is up more than $4,000 on its NBA picks this season, and find out. 2019 NBA Playoff Bracket<doc-sep>Kawhi Leonard hit a shot from the corner over Joel Embiid at the buzzer that bounced off the rim four times before falling in to give the Toronto Raptors a 92-90 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday night in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series. It was the first winning buzzer-beater in a Game 7 in NBA history. “It was great,” Leonard said. “That’s something I never experienced before, Game 7, a game-winning shot. It was a blessing to be able to get to that point and make that shot and feel that moment.” After Philadelphia’s Jimmy Butler tied the game with a driving lay-up with 4.2 seconds left, Toronto used their final timeout to draw up a play for Leonard, who dribbled toward the right corner and launched the high-arcing shot. It bounced to the top of the backboard, hit the near side of the rim again, then the other side twice before going through, setting off wild celebrations as the Raptors advanced to the Eastern Conference final for the second time in four seasons. They will open the conference final on Wednesday night at Milwaukee. Leonard scored 41 points on 16-of-39 shooting. Serge Ibaka added 17 points, and Pascal Siakam had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Embiid led the 76ers with 21 points and 11 rebounds. JJ Redick had 17 points, Butler added 16, and Tobias Harris had 14 points and 10 rebounds.<doc-sep>
Kawhi Leonard squatted and watched as his moon shot from the corner bounced off the rim an agonizing once, twice, three times, then four before finally dropping through the hoop. Leonard, acquired last summer for moments exactly like this, scored at the buzzer high over the outstretched hand of Joel Embiid and from in front of Toronto's bench, lifting the Raptors to a thrilling 92-90 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers — and into the Eastern Conference Finals for just the second time in franchise history. "It was great," Leonard said. "That's something I've never experienced before, Game 7, game-winning shot. It was a blessing to be able to get to that point and make that shot and feel that moment. It's something I can look back on in my career." Leonard had never experienced it because it had never happened. According to the NBA's Twitter account, it was the first buzzer-beater in a Game 7 in NBA history. WATCH | Leonard bouncing buzzer beater sends Raptors through to East final: Leonard's ridiculous buzzer-beater sends Raptors to Eastern finals Sports 1:23 Kawhi Leonard poured in 41 points, including a dramatic game-winner as the Toronto Raptors beat the Philadelphia 76ers 92-90 to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. 1:23 The normally stoic Leonard, who finished with 41 points, looked to the Scotiabank Arena rafters and let out a roar as the shot fell, and he was swarmed by his teammates. "I'm a guy that acts like I've been there before. So probably the last time you've seen me scream was when we won," Leonard said, in reference to San Antonio winning the 2014 Finals — Leonard was named MVP. "So whenever it's like a moment where I haven't really experienced, I'll probably try to give some emotion, show some emotion, and let it just come out. Tonight was one of those nights." It was indeed. And now the Raptors face the Bucks, who dispatched Boston in five games, in the Eastern Conference Finals, beginning on Wednesday in Milwaukee. WATCH | Raptors defeat Sixers in nail-biter: Game Wrap: Kawhi Leonard propels Raptors into East finals with stunning buzzer-beater Sports 2:33 Leonard`s fadeaway from the corner at the buzzer lifted the Toronto Raptors to a 92-90 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Toronto advance to their 2nd Conference finals in team history. 2:33 Serge Ibaka had one of the best post-season performances of his career in finishing with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Pascal Siakam finished with 11 points and 11 boards, and Kyle Lowry had 10 points despite playing most of the night with a taped left thumb he sprained early in the second quarter. "I fell, it popped out, I popped it back in," Lowry said. "It kind of was loose, I was just trying to figure out how to pass the ball, I couldn't really pass the ball and grip the ball, but that doesn't matter, I'm fine, I played, we won the game, we'll get some rest and try heal it up as fast as possible." Marc Gasol grabbed 11 rebounds to go with seven points. Embiid led his team with 21 points, but broke into tears after Leonard connected, Gasol consoling the Sixers big man. All five Philadelphia starters finished in double digits. JJ Redick added 17 points and Jimmy Butler had 16. WATCH | Leonard talks about impact of home crowd in Game 7: Kawhi Leonard post-interview: 'We needed (the fans) tonight' Sports 0:31 After a big game 7 victory, Leonard touched on the impact the fans made at home. 0:31 The Raptors shot 21 per cent in the first quarter, and the No. 1 three-point shooting team in the league since the Gasol trade in February, might as well have been masquerading as the worst. They missed their first eight three-point attempts before Ibaka finally connected a minute into the second. They shot 23 per cent from three, but the Sixers weren't much better at 33 per cent. Neither team led by double digits, and when Gasol scored on a floater at 9:28 in the third quarter, Toronto took its biggest lead of the game — nine points. The Sixers responded with a 16-0 run to go up by seven, but the Raptors replied and Ibaka's layup with 7.7 seconds left in the third gave Toronto a 67-64 lead with one quarter left.