The Toronto Raptors have failed to fight for a historic return to the NBA playoffs.
Chris Boucher had 25 points and 10 rebounds, while Pascal Siakam added 24 points, but a bad night of shooting and mixed defensive efforts led the Raptors to a 132-97 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 6 of their top seven playoffs.
Joel Embiid scored 33 points and 10 rebounds for the Sixers, who won the series 4-2 and will face the Miami Heat in the second round.
Gary Trent Jr. finished with 19 points, while rookie Scotty Barnes had 18 points for the Raptors, who played without star guard Fred Van Vleit.
The Raptors looked almost cooked up after losing the first three games of the series, but won two elimination games as hopes among fans grew for a historic victory in the series.
After a dominant 103-88 victory on Monday, the Raptors kept the score within seven points in the first half despite a terrible shot. But they never watched in sync from either end of the floor all night, and the Sixers opened the game wide with a 30-9 run in the third quarter.
WATCH l Raptors meet the end of the playoffs in a 6 loss game by 76ers:
The 76ers eliminated the Raptors in 6 games, with Embiid, Harden leading
Philadelphia beat Toronto 132-97 and took a series of the first round 4-2. Joel Embiid scored the highest 33 points, while James Harden added 22 points and 15 assists. 0:48
The Sixers hit six three-pointers in the quarter, under the groans of a crowd of 19,800 Scotiabank Arena fans, and Harden’s long bomb brought Philly out with 22 points at 3:52 to the end of the frame. The visitors beat Toronto 37-17 in the fourth and took a 99-78 lead to start the fourth.
The Barnes jumper reduced the lead to 18 less than a minute after the fourth, but Embiid almost dashed all hopes of an incredible comeback, scoring 10 points in less than four minutes. And when Tobias Harris scored 4:34 for the game, the basket led Philly by 27 points.
Embid runs back to the court with outstretched arms like a plane in celebration, as he did in the 2019 Eastern Conference semifinals against Toronto. Boos poured over the center of seven feet.
The three of Harris with 3:38 before the game led to an increase in the Sixers by 32 points and sent many fans to head out.
Siakam dropped out of the game by 2:14 and received a standing ovation when he left the game. The audience at Scotiabank Arena chanted “Let’s go Raptors!” when the nurse cancels her starts at this point.
Raptors shot only 7 for 35 – 20 percent – from three points and 39.3 percent from the field. Philly shoots 40 percent from long range and an incredible 58 percent from the field.
Many Toronto athletes were available to witness the loss, including Maple Leafs’ Oston Matthews, Morgan Riley, Mitch Marner, Alexander Kerfut and Wayne Simmonds, Ayo Aquinola of FC Toronto and Ifunanyachi Achara, and former Raptor Corey Joey.
Rapeseed misses an injured VanVleet
The Raptors severely missed the stable hand of the three-point specialist VanVleet, who played his second consecutive match with a tense left thigh flexor. The Raptors fought long distances in all series. Nick Nurse kept saying they had a big three-point shooting game ahead of them.
“They will start coming in, I keep repeating it,” the nurse said after training Wednesday. “The next game will be as good as anyone to get in.”
It didn’t have to be.
The Raptors’ loss put an end to a season that began with low expectations, but gained momentum after the All-Star break, when the Raptors have won 14 of their last 18 games.
With their victory at Philly on Monday, the Raptors became the 14th team – and the first since Milwaukee in 2015 – to boost game 6 after falling behind 3-0. Bucks lost 6-2 to Chicago. In the league’s 75-year history, 146 teams have faced a 3-0 deficit in a series of seven games.
Raptors fans gathered in Jurassic Park, the fan zone in front of Scotiabank Arena, reacted to Toronto’s elimination from the NBA playoffs on Thursday. (Evan Mitsui / CBC)
The Raptors aspired to become the fourth team in the NBA to boost Game 7 after falling behind 3-0. The Portland Trail Blazers in 2003 were the last team to do so against the Dallas Mavericks. The Denver Nuggets climbed a 3-0 deficit in 1994, as did the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals in 1951. All three, of course, lost 7 games.
The Raptors hit seven of their first eight shots, then went more than five minutes without a goal from the field, missing 10 straight shots. Harden, who had just 15 points in Game 5, had 10 in the quarter, and the Sixers led by seven several times. Philly led 34-29 to start the second.
Boucher’s triple highlighted the 15-5 series to start the second, in which the Raptors went up by five. Green scored four three-pointers and 12 points in the quarter, while the Sixers responded with a 62-61 lead at halftime.
The Raptors shot just 3-for-15 from a long distance in the first half.
The Sixers were without Matisse Tiboul, who is not allowed to travel to Toronto because he has not been fully vaccinated for COVID-19.
Add Comment