RECAP – Game 3 vs Raptors: Sixers Dominate At Home, Take 2-1 Series Lead
All I can say is, WOW. What a game!! In a very important Game 3, the fans at the Wells Fargo Center brought the energy and the Sixers delivered on it.
The Sixers played possibly their best game of the entire season, especially when you consider the circumstances. We defended home-court and took a BIG win 116-95.
Like I said in my last article, after stealing home-court from the Raptors, the Sixers were in a prime position to put their foot on Toronto’s throat by defending our home-court. This game was in the Sixers command from start to finish, they came out with energy I don’t think we had seen from them prior to this game. Brett Brown coached a good game and the whole team showed up and balled out.
The whole starting 5 put up double-digit points, but Joel and Jimmy specifically were great in this game. Joel posted 33 points, 10 rebounds, 5 blocks and shot 50% from the field. He also provided a pump fake into a windmill dunk that we will all remember forever. Jimmy posted 22 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists, he followed up his great Game 2 performance with another great game. Playoff Jimmy is here and Joel Embiid is the best player in the East. Yeah, I said it.
As for the rest of the starters, Ben Simmons posted 10 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists and was once again the best way to slow down Kawhi Leonard. Tobias Harris put up 13 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists. Lastly, JJ Reddick posted 15 points and shot 56% from the field and 50% from three. The whole bench got minutes due to being up big at the end of the game, but the only 3 players logging more than 5 minutes off the bench were Mike Scott, James Ennis, and Greg Monroe. Scott had 5 points, Ennis had 10 and Monroe had 4 (could have been 6 if he didn’t botch an open layup near the end of the game.) Not a great game for the bench, but the starters did more than enough to secure this win.
The game got a little chippy at times as well. Ben Simmons hit Kyle Lowry with a questionable elbow to the groin and Siakam intentionally tripped Joel, but they laughed it off together after. I’d say that I feel bad for Kyle Lowry, but watching him flop around the court this whole series has given me no sympathy for him. The only real production for the Raptors came from Kawhi Leonard (33 points, 60% shooting) and Pascal Siakam (20 points.) Other than those 2, the only other player in double figures was Danny Green with 13 points. Kyle Lowry posted just 7 points on 20% shooting, proving that his only value on the court is to flop.
The highest scoring total off the bench for Toronto was Norman Powell with 6 points. The Raptors looked like they didn’t belong on the court with the Sixers last night and I loved every single second of it.
Going into Game 4 we will look for continued dominance from Joel and Jimmy, consistency from JJ, somewhat bigger games from Ben and Tobias, Brett to keep coaching well and more production from the bench. I fully expect the Wells Fargo Center to be rocking again and I look to the team to feed on that energy once more. You can say this for every game in the playoffs, but this is a big game for us. A win gives us a commanding series lead, we have to take advantage of this opportunity.
If the Sixers can match the energy I saw from them last night, I have no reason to believe we won’t be leaving Philly with a 3-1 series lead. #PhilaUnite
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