James Harden adds 22 points and 15 assists as the 76ers move on to the Eastern Conference semis. The song is called "2:33."
Someday, a team will come back from a 0-3 deficit to win an NBA playoff series.
It will not be the Toronto Raptors in 2022.
The Raptors were the 14th team to extend a best-of-seven series after falling behind, but they didn't have enough. The Philadelphia 76ers came away with a 132-97 victory over the Toronto Raptors Thursday night in Game 6 of their first-round series, thanks to a dominant third quarter that saw them outscore Toronto 37-17 and at one point score 17 straight points.
The win moves Philadelphia into the Eastern Conference semifinals for the fourth time in five years, where the 76ers will hope to finally break through and reach the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since Allen Iverson led them there in 2001. The top-seeded Heat play the Philadelphia 76ers in Miami on Monday.
The 76ers had a balanced attack. In 36 minutes, he finished with 33 points and 10 rebound, going 12-for-18 from the field. The 76ers desperately needed James Harden to play with aggression and he did. Second-year guard Tyrese Maxey had a huge bounce-back game, finishing with 25 points and eight assists, after scoring 23 points combined in Games 4 and 5.
The 76ers needed a performance like that, but it was far from certain when the game started. Thursday night. It seemed as if the 76ers had put their demons to rest after their heartbreaking loss to Toronto in the first game of this series, when they took a three-game lead.
Things did not work out that way. After a sluggish performance from the 76ers, the Raptors were able to get back into the series with a home victory in Game 4, followed by a dominant performance in Philadelphia in Game 5, as the crowd inside the Wells Fargo Center got tighter and tighter.
Raptors coach Nick Nurse said that getting one could get them back in the game and give them a chance to keep it going.
When we got back to the film room the next day, I liked the body language, I liked what I was hearing communication-wise, and I felt that we were ready to go.
Toronto was able to get itself back into the series and return to Toronto for Game 6 on Thursday. It wasn't enough to bring Toronto to the precipice of history.
Philadelphia spent the past three days hearing endless chatter about whether the team would be able to close this series out and reverse past playoff heartbreaks.
The sellout crowd here was stunned by how the game slipped away so quickly, thanks to the 76ers' offensive onslaught. After Philadelphia held a halftime lead, the 76ers came out in the third quarter and dominated the rest of the way to take a commanding lead in the best-of-seven series. The Raptors fans could not get back into their seats at the half after the Sixers opened up a 13-point lead.
The run ballooned to 30-9 over the first 8:08 of the third, capped off by a Harden step-back 3-pointer that made it 92-70 in favor of the 76ers, forcing Toronto to call its second timeout of the quarter.
For several 76ers, Game 6 served as a redemption point, with Harden coming under fire for his play after taking just 11 shots in Game 5, with Embiid himself saying Harden needed to be more aggressive, and that it was on Rivers to get him to be.
After not getting a dunk in his first two games as a 76er, Harden threw one down in the first quarter of Game 6 and scored 10 points and made 5 assists to help stake the 76ers.
The hot pace for both teams to start the game continued throughout the first half, with both teams executing what they wanted and getting unexpected contributions from across the roster. For Toronto, it was backup big man Chris Boucher, who had a playoff career high in 19 points and eight boards before the break, while for Philadelphia, it was Danny Green, who had four 3-pointers and 12 points in the first half.
Toronto struggled from the 3-point line (3-for-15), but had 10 offensive rebound and a 12-3 edge in second-chance points, as Philadelphia hit nearly 58% of its shots in the first half.
The 76ers held a 62-61 lead, which set up both teams for a great second half.
The 76ers came out and made sure that no history was made in this series.
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