The Toronto Raptors they avoided their elimination from the ‘play-offs’ by defeating the Sixers 110-102 this Saturday and forced a fifth meeting, which will be played on Monday in Philadelphia.
After the Raptors’ victory this Saturday, the Sixers are still up in the first round series with a 3-1 lead. They just need one more win to eliminate the Raptors.
The match, which was rough, with the players of the two teams about to come to blows at various timeswas resolved in favor of the local team thanks to the intense defense to which the Sixers’ star, center Joel Embid.
Embiid, who was involved in several clashes with Pascal Siakam, ended up scoring 21 points and 8 reboundswhich made him the second highest scorer on his team, behind James Harden, who had 22 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists.
The game’s top scorer was Siakam, with 34 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, who in Game 3 on Wednesday in Toronto had only 12 points and none of them in the second half. His teammate Gary Trent Jr. finished Saturday’s game as the second scorer with 24 points and 3 rebounds.
Scotty Barnesalso a Raptors player and that before the start of the game received the NBA Rookie of the Year trophyreappeared after recovering from an ankle injury and finished with 6 points and 11 rebounds.
But the Raptors lost at the end of the first half of the game one of their key men, base fred VanVleet, with problems in his left hip.
The Sixers in a hurry
After winning the first three games of the series, the Sixers were in a hurry for the fourth to be the last.
Although Joel Embiid injured the thumb of his right hand on Wednesday in Game 3 of the series, the center jumped into Philadelphia’s starting five with the intention of finishing off the Raptors.
To avoid this, Nick Nurse, the Raptors coach, raised a strategy based on stopping Embiid and at the same time prevent the disappearance of Siakam, as happened in the previous game.
From the start of the game, Siakam monopolized the ball and the power forward scored 4 of the 5 field goals that he tried in the first quarter. When he finished the fourth, Siakam had 10 points.
At the same time, Nurse’s two-man defense on Embiid worked. The pivot could only score 1 point in the first 12 minutes. Without the pivot points, Tobias Harris and James Harden were in charge of adding to the Sixers’ locker.
When the first quarter ended, the scoreboard reflected a tie, 24-24.
At the start of the second quarter, locals got a bit of a scare when Barnes tripped and seemed to hurt the same ankle that had kept him from the team. But after a timeout, the rookie of the year returned to the court without major problems.
The one who couldn’t come back was point guard Fred VanVleet who in the final stages of the second quarter he limped off the track, yanking at his shirt and headed straight to the locker room with problems in his left hip.
Despite the absence of VanVleet, and not having a born base, the Raptors were able to finish the second quarter ahead on the scoreboard, 54-49, thanks to Gary Trent Jr.’s 12 points during the period and despite Embiid’s 7.
After the break, the Sixers pressed the Raptors and at various times they seemed ready to seize the lead on the scoreboard from the locals. But the good defense of the Torontonians made up for their deficiencies in attack and kept the Philadelphians behind in the light.
Tension between Embiid and Siakam
It was in the third quarter that the Sixers’ frustration began to surface, with several clashes between Siakam and Embiid, who was constantly booed by the nearly 20,000 spectators at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena every time he received the ball.
But the blood did not reach the river and at the end of the third quarter the Sixers had closed 80-77with 8 points from Embiid.
In the fourth quarter, Embiid and Siakam resumed their hostilities. With 4.45 remaining in the game, and with a 95-85 in favor of Toronto, Embiid claimed a foul under the Raptors rim that was not awarded.
In retaliation, Niang clearly fouled Achiuwa on the other end of the court. With the spirits rarefied and a 101-87 on the scoreboard, Embiid pounced on Siakam after the Raptors player called a timeout with 3 minutes remaining.
The action earned Embiid a technique and originated another matchup, this time between Harden and several Raptors players. And on the next play it was Anunoby who earned a technical after fouling Embiid and pushing the Sixers player.
With 1:23 remaining and 106-93, Sixers coach Doc Rivers decided that it was not worth risking his figures and he decided to take the bench to the fielda measurement that was matched by Nurse.
With the reserves on the court, the game ended 110-102 while Embiid left the court applauding ironically to the Canadian public.