Embiid shines in big win by 76ers

76ers put on a dominate performance against Raptors

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76ers at Wizards 2/25/18

By Travis Moore, Staff Writer
May 3, 2019

The 76ers had a dominating performance against the Toronto Raptors. Joel Embiid had a game for the ages, posting a stat line of 33 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 blocks, all of which were on Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakim. The energy in Philly was electric.

After the game, when talking to Scott Van Pelt on Sportscenter, 76ers star Tobias Harris said it was, “one of the loudest arenas I’ve been in in my playing career”. After an insane windmill dunk, Joel Emiid ran across the court with his arms stretched, then put his hand up to his ear to get the Philly fans even louder.

Kawhi Leonard has been one of the best players in these playoffs, but was simply shorthanded offensively. Toronto’s bench was only able to put up 15 points, and that includes a couple of garbage-time buckets that had no impact on the game. Kawhi continued his incredible playoff play with a stat line of 33 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists.

The game was very chippy. Early in the 2nd, Ben Simmons seemed to intentionally elbow Kyle Lowry in his groin area, but the foul wasn’t called. Things also got physical between Pascal Siakim and Joel Embiid, when Siakim tried to trip Emiid after Embiid blocked his shot.

A massive 21-3 run to start the 4th quarter was the final nail in the coffin for the Raptors. After a lackluster game one and two, this was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen by Embiid. He was completely dominate on offense and defense. Marc Gasol (a former All-Star) looked completely over matched. This might be the game where we realize Embiid is the next legendary big man.

Joel Embiid is one of the best big man in the league by a wide margin, and I’d be extremely surprised if we don’t mention his name with Shaq, Kareem, Hakeem, or Robinson by the end of his career. Jimmy Butler also came up big for the 76ers with 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists, including an absurd alley-oop from Ben Simmons. All 5 starters for the 76ers had double digits in points by the end of the game. This is going to be a tightly contested series, and I hope the physical play continues. Game 4 will be in Philadelphia on Sunday at 2:30 on ABC.