Joel Embiid scored 33 points and had 10 rebounds while James Harden dropped 22 points and had an impressive 15 assists.
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Joel Embiid and James Harden starred for the Philadelphia 76ers as they dismantled the Toronto Raptors 132-97 in their playoff series game and in the process booked their tickets to the Eastern Conference semifinals where they will face Jimmy Butler’s Miami Heat. Joel Embiid scored 33 points and had 10 rebounds while James Harden dropped 22 points and had an impressive 15 assists. “We weren’t going back to Philly for a Game 7,” Harden said after the game. Tyrese Maxey scored 25 points and Tobias Harris had 19 points and 11 rebounds to help the 76ers finish off the Raptors. Danny Green scored 12 points and shot 4 for 7 from 3-point range as the Sixers finished 16 for 40 from beyond the arc.
“They’re good, they’re deep, they’re veterans,” 76ers coach Doc Rivers said about the Heat. “We’ve got to go play grown men, and we’re looking forward to the challenge.” Sixers forward Harris said, “We knew what was at stake for us. No disrespect to our fans, but we did not want to come back to Wells Fargo for a Game 7. We wanted to end it tonight out here.” For the Raptors, Chris Boucher had 25 points and 10 rebounds, Pascal Siakam fouled out with 24 points, Gary Trent Jr. had 19 and Scottie Barnes 18 as they struggled from 3-point range, going 7 for 35.
“We fought hard but we didn’t get the outcome we wanted,” Siakam said. “We just have to go back and learn from it.” Toronto lost in the first round for the first time since being swept by Washington in 2015. “I thought we went through a tremendous amount this year,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “They just kept fighting, kept playing, kept getting better and kept figuring it out.”
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James Harden praised the Toronto outfit for making a fist of the series after losing the first three games. “That was one of the toughest series I’ve played in just because of their switching and their athleticism, their length. They throw different defences at you, box and ones and zones. They just mess up the game.” All-Star guard Fred VanVleet was missing for the Raptors for a second straight game because of a strained left hip flexor. The Raptors trailed 70-67 after Siakam made a hook shot with 9:42 left in the third, but Maxey hit three 3-pointers as the 76ers broke the game open with a 17-0 run over the next four-plus minutes.
