What once seemed like a potential sweep is now an interesting series like Toronto Raptors beat Philadelphia 76ers 103-88 in Game 5 Monday night. The win was Toronto’s second in a row, and the streak that started 3-0 in favor of Philadelphia is now 3-2 with Game 6 scheduled to be played in Toronto Thursday night.
The Raptors were without an all-star goalkeeper Fred Vanfleet Due to a groin injury he suffered in Game 4, but they got a lot of other contributions. Pascal Siakam Toronto led the way with a near triple – 23 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Precious Ichiwa He scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds from the bench, and Gary Trent Jr.. And OG Anunoby added 16 points each. Toronto hit 50 per cent from the ground and turned the ball just nine times.
On the other hand, all five starters of the Sixers scored double goals – led by Joel Embiid (20 points, 11 rebounds) – But none of them played well, and Philadelphia came off the bench 29-11 over the course of the competition.
It was a worrisome overall performance from Philly, as they certainly didn’t come out with the energy, effort, and focus one would expect with a chance to close the series to their home audiences sitting in front of them. Even more disturbing is the fact that this is Philly’s second consecutive underperformance. Instead of shutting down the Raptors, they let them hang out and gain confidence, and they’d be a tougher team to get rid of because of that.
Here are three key points from Toronto’s Game 5 win over Philadelphia.
1. Toronto’s size was a problem for Philly
Fred Van Fleet’s lack of a game might be a blessing in disguise for the Raptors. He’s been crucial to Toronto’s success all season, but the Sixers had some serious success defending him early in the series. With him sidelined, Nick Norse and the Raptors went big, picking a starting lineup from Siakam, Onobi, Trent Jr., Birch and Barnes. Trent Jr. is the shortest of these players at 6’5″. Off the bench, Toronto only played three players (not including the last minute of trash time) – Thaddeus YoungAnd Chris Boucher And Ochiwa. These guys are all at least 6’8″.
In other words, Toronto had a very large squad throughout the game, and it annoyed Philadelphia. The Sixers struggled to penetrate the paint as they did previously in the series, and also had a hard time getting rid of the clean look. This is reflected by the fact that they fired only 38 percent from the field and 27 percent from long range. Toronto’s size has also led to shifts – 15 of them were by Sixers.
This isn’t meant to be a hit on VanVleet, but in this series, his absence may be an addition by way of a subtraction scenario for the Raptors. His status in relation to Game 6 is still a question at this point, but regardless of whether he plays or not, the Sixers need to figure out a way to better handle Toronto’s size.
2. A bad second quarter for Philadelphia
It can be said that this match was lost in the second quarter. Lagging by one after 12 minutes of excitement, the Sixers then won 25-14 per second, and they were never able to climb back into the game after that. They shot only five out of 22 from the ground in the quarter, and had more turns than assists (three). See how ugly this shot chart looks:
There is simply no excuse to score only 14 points in a full quarter, especially when the heavy hitters are playing big minutes. Embiid played over eight minutes in the quarter. Play Harden 10. Tobias Harris And Therese Maxi They both played the entire quarter. These guys should be able to drum up more than just a point per minute, and Doc Rivers should be able to make them more productive when the crime stops, it turns out.
Ending this streak and putting Toronto away would require a full 48-minute effort from The Sixers. They can’t afford more bad neighborhoods like that.
3. Toronto dominated the paint
You might think the dominant team would win the points battle in the paint, but that wasn’t the case in game five. Despite Embiid on the floor, Toronto outnumbered Philadelphia by 20 (56-36) in the game. fee. The Raptors constantly made it to the edge, and as soon as they got there, they were done. According to Cleaning the Glass, the Raptors have converted 24 of their 28 attempts within four feet of the basket. The Sixers had 29 such attempts but only converted 18 of them. Going forward, the Sixers will want to do a better job of protecting the edge, while diverting more easy attempts at the other end.
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