TORONTO — Joel Embiid stood at the free-throw line, hands on knees and hunched over, preparing to take a pair of ultimately meaningless free throws. He then shook his hand as the first shot dropped through the net, a sign of the clear pain he will need to fight through in at least one more game against these Toronto Raptors.
The Raptors started fast and withstood the Sixers’ second-half pushes to win, 110-102, Saturday afternoon at Scotiabank Arena to keep their season alive and force a Game 5 in the best-of-seven series.
Sixers veteran Danny Green, who has won three championships in his career, cautioned following Friday’s practice that close-out games are the most difficult to capture. That rang true during Saturday’s slog. The Sixers could not overcome a double-digit first-half deficit, 34 points from Raptors star Pascal Siakam or allowing 22 Toronto points off turnovers and 21 in transition.
