PHILADELPHIA — Oh, boy. Philly, the 76ers might have a problem.
Once in position to sweep the Toronto Raptors, the Sixers look like a squad in jeopardy of suffering an embarrassing first-round exit.
That’s the fallout after the Raptors prevailed, 103-88, in Monday night’s Game 5 at the Wells Fargo Center to force Game 6.
The Sixers are clinging to a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference series after failing to beat the Raptors in the last two elimination games. Game 6 will be at 7 p.m. Thursday at Scotiabank Arena.
The Sixers hope to avoid being the first team in NBA history to blow a 3-0 series advantage.
On Monday, the Raptors were without All-Star point guard Fred VanVleet, who is sidelined with a left hip flexor strain.
But they didn’t need him on this night while shooting 51.2% from the field. The shot attempts the Raptors got in the first four games gave coach Nick Nurse confidence heading into Monday.
“I think the biggest thing that I’ve seen is that we’ve generated really good shots most of the series,” he said before the game. “And we haven’t shot very well yet. I told the guys today, today would be a good day to go and start making some of those shots.”
He just didn’t know how they would create those shots with VanVleet sidelined. As it turned out, the Raptors generated them with a team effort. Five of the eight players in their rotation before the teams emptied their benched scored in double-digits. Pascal Siakam had his second straight solid game, finishing with 23 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists.
The Sixers, meanwhile, made just 38.3% of their shots. James Harden struggled on this night. The perennial All-NBA guard finished with 15 points and seven assists. However, that was a bit misleading as Harden made 2 of 9 shots and had nine points before making his final two shots.
Joel Embiid had 20 points and 11 rebounds — with 13 of his points coming with the first half.
Embiid’s performance
Embiid looked more comfortable with his injured rigth thumb than in Game 4 early on.
He finished the first quarter with 10 points on 3-for-5 shooting while making all four of his foul shots. Embiid also had five rebounds.
Back in Game 4, he finished the first quarter with one points while making 1 of 2 foul shots and going 0-for-5 from the field. He had two rebounds.
However, his aggressiveness tailed off as the game progressed.
No VanVleet
VanVleet said the hip has been bothering him “off and on” this season. He also suffered the injury “the year before.” Back then, he was able to get through it. This time, the injury was worse.
VanVleet suffered the injury in the first half of Saturday’s Game 4 and didn’t return after leaving the court in the second quarter.
This has been a rough year for him.
He missed the final three games of the regular season because of a knee injury that affected him in the second half of the season. The injuries have impacted his play this series. VanVleet is averaging just 13.8 points and 35.2% shooting after averaging a career-best 20.3 points this season.
Second-quarter blues
The boos from the home crowd were in full force by the time coach Doc Rivers called a timeout with 7 minutes, 14 seconds before intermission. That’s because the Raptors opened the second quarter on a 12-0 run and led 41-27 at that point. The Sixers were shooting 0-9 in the quarter.
Danny Green buried a three-pointer after the timeout to halt the Raptors’ run. Then on their next possession, Embiid converted a three-point play to pull the Sixers within eight points (41-33). A couple of possessions later, Tobias Harris scored a transition basket during the Sixers’ 8-0 run.
But they could not sustain what they were doing. They went back to missing shots as the Raptors closed out the half on a 13-6 run to take a 54-41 cushion.
The Sixers shot 5-for-22 from the field in the quarter and were booed at the conclusion of the half. The three-point play marked Embiid’s only points of the quarter. Toronto held onto a 77-66 cushion after three quarters.
