Kawhi Leonard stole the show with 41 points and the game-winning jump shot to send the Raptors to the Eastern Conference Finals. The Toronto Raptors are going to the Eastern Conference Finals. Led by Kawhi Leonard, who scored a game-high 41 points, the Raptors defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in a thrilling Game 7 by a final score of 92-90. The 76ers pushed the Raptors to the limit behind strong performances from Joel Embiid (21 points, 11 rebounds), JJ Redick (17 points) and Jimmy Butler (16 points), but it wasn't quite enough. For more on the game, here are four takeaways... Kyle Lowry being Kyle Lowry The Raptors were losing control of the game in the third quarter. A floater by Marc Gasol put them ahead 50-41 with 9:28 to play in the period, but the 76ers went on a 16-0 run to take the lead. The Raptors couldn't buy a shot during that stretch. They missed all 10 of their field goal attempts, with Kawhi Leonard going 0-for-6. Fortunately for the Raptors, Kyle Lowry responded with a series of hustle plays that saved their season. Lowry got the Raptors back on the board by setting Serge Ibaka up with a layup following a free throw from Jimmy Butler. He rebounded back-to-back misses from Toronto a couple of minutes later, the second of which led to a 3-pointer from Leonard to make it a one-point game. The Raptors regained the lead off of a layup from Lowry and then extended it to three following an incredible steal and assist from - you guessed it - Lowry. Lowry wasn't done there either - he closed the quarter by drawing an offensive foul on Joel Embiid. From Lowry's assist to the charge on Embiid, the Raptors outscored the 76ers 17-7. If it weren't for that run, there's a good chance the Raptors wouldn't be in the Eastern Conference Finals right now. Kawhi Leonard leads the way This is why the Raptors traded for Kawhi Leonard. With Toronto's season on the line, Leonard led them to victory with a game-high 41 points. It wasn't his most efficient performance of the season - he shot 16-for-39 from the field and 2-for-9 from the 3-point line - but he showed up when the Raptors needed him most. After Lowry got the Raptors back in the game, Leonard dominated the fourth quarter with 15 of the team's 25 points. He hit big shot after big shot, none bigger than the one that won them the game at the buzzer, which made up for a free throw he missed a few seconds earlier. The 39 field goal attempts marked a new career-high for Leonard. His 43 minutes were also the most he's played in regulation as a member of the Raptors. The Raptors needed absolutely everything out of Leonard and he delivered, as he has all season long. Serge Ibaka off the bench Serge Ibaka picked quite the time to have his best game of the postseason. In 29 minutes of play, Ibaka scored 17 points off the bench - the second-most on the team behind Kawhi Leonard - on 6-for-10 shooting from the field and 3-for-5 from the perimeter. The only other Raptor to make multiple 3-pointers was Leonard, who went 2-for-9 from distance. Everyone else on the team combined to shoot 2-for-12 from the 3-point line. Ibaka made an impact in other areas as well, pulling down eight rebounds - four of which were on the offensive glass - and dishing out three assists. The combination helped the Raptors outscore the 76ers by 22 points with him on the court, giving Ibaka the best +/- in the game. Raptors attack the glass In a series where the Raptors have been comprehensively beaten on the boards, they brought every bit of hustle in Game 7, dominating the glass as they punched their ticket to the next round. The Raptors won the rebound battle 49-41, pulling down 16 on the offensive end to the 76ers' five, contributing to them taking an extra 24 shots on the night. For the 76ers, that number will jump out the most given they only lost by two points, but the Raptors' commitment to fighting for every possession and limiting their turnovers set the stage for Kawhi Leonard's late game heroics. Sure, they lost this game at the buzzer, but Philly had plenty of opportunities to swing Game 7 in their favour. Toronto's extra effort just proved the difference. Marc Gasol and Pascal Siakam led the charge with 11 boards each, while Kawhi Leonard (8), Serge Ibaka (8), Kyle Lowry (6) and Danny Green (4) all did their bit.<doc-sep>It will be a game that defines this season for the Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday night, a Game 7 of their playoff series to propel one team to the Eastern Conference final and send the other into the dustbin of history. That’s pressure. It’s the pressure that’s inherent in every Game 7 in every sport, but it’s only a small part of this story. This is much more than one game to send the winner on to face the Milwaukee Bucks. It is a game that will resonate for years with each franchise, a game that could lead to a dismantling that might set the loser back for years and years. So much at stake. For now and for seasons to come. Both teams have been building to this moment since last summer, and this capper to an inexplicably unexplainable series that’s made little sense since it began nearly two weeks ago could validate one series of moves and show the others to be failures. Read more: Opinion | Philly’s Joel Embiid can make Game 7 an inside job Opinion | The Raptors’ experiment slows down to one moment Jimmy Butler has earned the max deal Sixers can offer him Toronto went all-in on Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green for one year, and Marc Gasol for maybe a year and a half — tossing aside the safety net of DeMar DeRozan, NBA coach of the year Dwane Casey and a trio of players sent packing at the trade deadline — with the express intent of having a legitimate chance to at least play for an NBA title. If this goes south and the Raptors lose on Sunday — if the best, most veteran, most experienced roster in franchise history, coming off a season which produced the second-best record in the entire league, can’t even make it to the conference final — where do they turn? Does not getting out of the second round drive Leonard away in free agency? If it does, what becomes of the other veterans such as Green, a free agent, and Kyle Lowry, Serge Ibaka and Gasol, none of whom are getting any younger and all of whom will be in the final years of their contracts next season? Would club president Masai Ujiri, who historically has not been afraid to throw grenades into the mix when he feels it necessary, blow it all up? Or destroy part of it? Or try to sell anyone on a second-round exit being an acceptable result for this particular club? Everyone connected with the team knows the stakes go far beyond Sunday and what might await in Milwaukee. This is 48 minutes of basketball that sets the tone for half a decade to come. But if the long-term implications are significant for the Raptors, they are equally a part of the equation for the Sixers, who went as all-in on this year as Toronto did. Philadelphia pulled the trigger on two huge trades to expedite The Process and have perhaps their best shot at the ultimate goal. Jimmy Butler, an enigmatic personality who has taken over the latter stages of this season, was obtained from the Timberwolves for all of Philadelphia’s depth as perhaps a one-year rental; Tobias Harris came over from the Clippers at the deadline, another expiring contract acquired to make this the year The Process ends. What happens if the Sixers fail? Do Butler or Harris, or both, bail for a better chance to win? Will ownership pay them coming off a season that ends in such disappointment? Could coach Brett Brown, six years on the job, survive falling short of expectations? “They’re very unique,” Brown said of Game 7s. “They’re special, they’re a life-lesson opportunity.” It all ratchets up the importance of Sunday far beyond just one game to move on. It’s one game to save jobs, cement reputations, decide futures. As all Game 7s are, Sunday’s should be a test of will and heart and stamina more than strategy, a game of mental strength as much as physical power and speed. The game slows down. There’s a tendency to play cautiously instead of freely, no matter what the participants say. Everyone would love to be the hero, sure. Everyone would also hate to be the goat, and risk-taking is at a minimum. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... “It’s not unlike where we have been a couple of times already in this series,” was how Raptors coach Nick Nurse put it after Game 6. “They are critical games; they are all critical. We’ve got to play with great physicality, great speed, connected on the defensive end. “I think we have to play one of our best defensive games of the year, and play with some gusto on offence.” There is plenty depending on it — Sunday and for years to come. Read more about:<doc-sep>With the basketball universe ready to stick a fork in the 2018-19 Sixers, they delivered a devastating performance in a do-or-die Game 6 in Philadelphia. They will head back to Toronto with a chance to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals this Sunday, following a 112-101 victory over the Raptors on Thursday night. This was a comprehensive performance from the home team. It took contributions from each of their stars and a pair of their most reliable bench players to get it done, and they will need each and every man who showed up on Thursday to deliver once again on Sunday. Here's what I saw in Game 6, with more to come. The Good • When you're facing elimination in a home playoff game, the worst thing you can do is get off to a bad start. The excitement in the crowd quickly turns to nerves, and the advantage you're supposed to have at home can disappear real quick. The Sixers made sure to give the home crowd something to cheer about early. It was Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris leading the way in the early going, in the different ways they go about the game. Butler's rugged, physical way of getting to the rim helped break through some physical Toronto defense, and Harris' shot finally reemerged at a time when they needed it the most. Philadelphia paid them the respect they deserved with a standing ovation after a strong first quarter, and it was obvious that both sides lifted each other up on Thursday. • If you want to credit one person for Philadelphia's torrid start to the game, Butler was the star of the show for Philadelphia. The Sixers felt the minutes Embiid was off of the floor the most on Thursday, but when they had all their best players on the floor, Butler took the game by the horns and never let go. The offensive contributions spoke for themselves. Butler finished with 19 points in the first half alone, and he abused every mismatch the Raptors were kind enough to hand him. Kyle Lowry? Just shoot over him. Patrick McCaw? Thanks for affording him a free path to the rim. Butler created his own separation time and time again, and when the shots didn't fall, he was the first man after the offensive rebound, outmuscling Toronto with some spectacular plays in mid-air. His defense was just as important. When Ben Simmons got into early foul trouble, it was Butler who was asked to take on the Kawhi Leonard assignment, and Butler played some of the best individual defense he has played all season on Leonard. After bothering his shot throughout the first half, Butler picked his pocket to put an exclamation point at the end of the first half, going coast-to-coast to put the Sixers up 15 at halftime. When the Sixers traded a couple of beloved role players for Butler last November, this is what they signed up for. Butler has proven many times over he is built for this sort of moment, and he has been their undisputed best player in this series, in a matchup that was always going to demand him to be at his best. Job well done. • The man who has taken more heat than anyone in this series, Ben Simmons, was in fine form on Thursday night. With the season on the line, Simmons came out of the tunnel like he was shot out of a cannon, and it made all the difference in the world for Philadelphia. Anybody who wants him to turn into a volume shooter is probably never going to get their wish. But Simmons is still totally capable of dictating the tempo of the game, and he did that against Toronto in Game 6. He didn't let Kawhi Leonard's presence deter him from driving, he didn't slow down when they tried to wall him off in transition, he just went full speed ahead as often as possible. When Simmons is in freight train mode, that draws the attention of the opponent regardless of how many shots he attempts at the rim. There is a big difference between this version of Simmons and the one that gets caught in mid-air, unsure of whether he's going to attempt something at the rim or fling a pass to the perimeter. I mean this sincerely — one of his best plays of the game was a missed dunk he was fouled on in the fourth quarter. He didn't have a lot of room to take off, but he didn't care, and he exploded to the rim the way he should be doing numerous times per game. A Simmons that plays with purpose is dangerous. The Sixers will not win a title unless they get this version of him, and with the stakes considered, this is one of the best games of Simmons' young career. • Stop me if you've heard this before: Joel Embiid did not have his best stuff on the offensive end of the floor against Toronto in Game 6. Marc Gasol continues to give him fits when he tries to post up, which has taken Embiid out of his usual rhythm and neutralized his ability to get to the line. And yet the Sixers were somehow a +30 in the first half with Embiid on the floor, and a +40 through three quarters. That is how important he is on the defensive end of the floor, organizing the Sixers from the paint and making sure everyone gets where they're supposed to be. Whenever he's not on the floor, the Raptors have hunted whatever poor sap the Sixers put in the game to replace him, and it has been a disaster all series. So Embiid did what the great ones are supposed to do, and he kept his butt on the floor as much as humanly possible, and he found a way to impact the game even with his shot not dropping. The Sixers dominated the points in the paint battle, and the disparity felt representative of his impact on the game. Embiid made sure everyone was reminded that he's one of the game's best, and he did it without having to fill it up on offense. Having a healthy Embiid in Game 7 might make all the difference in the world for Philly. • Tobias Harris cooled off after a hot start to the game, but I thought this was one of his better all-around performances since joining the Sixers. He finally seems comfortable with what he's supposed to do and where he's supposed to be on defense, and it has helped the Sixers come together as a unit these past few weeks. It helps that Toronto doesn't have a lot of players who can punish Harris' lateral quickness weaknesses in space, which is where he got burned against the Nets in round one. On the offensive side of the ball, Harris didn't allow himself to get turned into just a spot-up shooter. He attacked closeouts hard, and even though he came up empty on a few of his trips to the basket, he never stopped coming, and he was able to punish Toronto collapsing on him with a couple of well-timed passes to other shooters on the perimeter. If he starts hitting shots, Toronto is in trouble. • Mike Scott may be the most beloved role player that a team acquired at the trade deadline in the history of the NBA. He is such a perfect fit with this fanbase that it's a shame he didn't up here sooner — the guy is tough as nails, and that gives him the confidence to knock down tough threes and take whatever defensive assignment the game brings him on a given night. A role player on a heater can swing elimination games. Scott is a great candidate for that honor in Game 7, where the Sixers will need every last man they can get. • Another game, another series of glue-guy plays from James Ennis. His offensive night was nothing to write home about, but he was part of the brigade that slowed down Kawhi Leonard. The Bad<doc-sep>
Will the 76ers continue to dominate the offensive glass? Can the Raptors make open shots? Will someone other than Kawhi Leonard or Pascal Siakam step up for Toronto? Game 7 it is. The Toronto Raptors had a chance to punch their ticket to the next round, but the Philadelphia 76ers cruised to a 112-101 victory in Game 6 behind dominant performances from Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler and Joel Embiid. Simmons and Butler each scored 20 points in the win and Embiid controlled both ends of the court with 17 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks. The Raptors, meanwhile, got 29 points out of Kawhi Leonard and 21 points out of Pascal Siakam but not much from anyone else. That sets the stage for a Game 7 in Toronto on Sunday, with the Milwaukee Bucks waiting for the winner in the Eastern Conference Finals. Here are four things to watch in what should be a hard-fought game between the Raptors and 76ers... Philadelphia's offensive rebounding The 76ers punished the Raptors on the offensive glass in Game 6. They had 16 offensive rebounds in total, but five of them came in the first quarter, which helped them set the tone for the game. Simmons benefited the most from those second chance opportunities. Three of his four his baskets in the opening quarter came following an offensive rebound, including the one in the closing seconds that put the 76ers ahead 29-21. "We had a couple of good defensive possessions and his big arm and hand came up there and tipped them in," Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said of Simmons after the game. "Those are tough when you've had a good defensive possession and they stick in a high percentage tip-in." The 76ers finished the game with 18 second chance points compared to nine for the Raptors. It's the most they've had in a game this series, their previous high coming in Game 3, when they scored 15 second chance points off of nine offensive rebounds. That hurt the Raptors in a number of ways, one being that it limited their transition opportunities. In Game 5, for example, Toronto kept Philadelphia to five offensive rebounds and scored 33 points in transition. In Game 6, the Raptors gave up 16 offensive rebounds and scored only 11 points in transition, the latter being their lowest total yet in this series. To keep their season alive, the Raptors can't afford to lose the battle on the boards and in transition again. Toronto's 3-point shooting The Raptors were ice cold from the 3-point line in Game 6, missing 27 of their 36 attempts. The majority of those attempts were wide open, too - 25 to be exact, per NBA.com, of which they made only seven. The problem isn't just that the Raptors weren't able to capitalize on those opportunities. It's that the 76ers were able to take advantage of those misses - as well as the 12 turnovers they committed - by pushing the pace and attacking the Raptors while they were scrambled. "We just missed so many shots early and they were just playing off the rebound so often," Nurse said post-game. "They were getting them off the rebound and pushing it out on us. "We were not doing a great job in transition and when we did, we ended up cross-matched a little bit and they made us pay for those." It's another way in which Simmons was able to get himself going after not being much of a factor offensively in Games 2 through 5. Simmons made more of an effort to get out in transition, where he was among the league leaders in scoring this season. And when he wasn't scoring in transition in Game 6, Simmons was collapsing the defence and setting his teammates with high percentage looks. Simmons finished the game with 21 points, eight rebounds, six assists and zero turnovers. It was only the second time in these playoffs that he's scored 20 or more points and only the second time that hasn't committed a single turnover. When Simmons does both of those things - provide a scoring punch and take care of the ball - the 76ers have proven to be a tough team to beat. The Pascal Siakam and Joel Embiid matchup It's clear the 76ers aren't worried about Siakam shooting 3-pointers, even wide open ones. It's an adjustment they made after Game 1 by putting Embiid on him instead of Tobias Harris.