Sixers close out Raptors, 112-97, to take 2-0 lead in first-round playoff series | Analysis

The race for the loose ball about midway through the fourth quarter wound up in Tyrese Maxey’s grasp. Maxey then stopped at the left wing, wide open, and fired away from beyond the arc.

The shot went splash, and order was restored.

What appeared to be another 76ers onslaught in their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series briefly turned dicey, before the Sixers closed out a 112-97 victory Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center to take a 2-0 series lead.

“Luckily, it was just a good bounce,” Maxey said of the game-turning sequence. “I picked it up and I had space to shoot. We needed an [energy burst] and momentum-builder, and I just tried to make a shot and make a play for our team.”

The series now shifts to Toronto for Games 3 and 4, which will be played Wednesday and Saturday at Scotiabank Arena.

The Sixers outscored the Raptors by 63-38 in the second and third quarters, but needed to weather a Toronto push in the final period.

» READ MORE: Sixers vow to be ‘locked in’ for Game 2 against the Raptors

Toronto began the fourth on a 15-2 run, capped by three-pointers by Chris Boucher and OG Anunoby and a layup by Khem Birch to cut the Sixers’ lead to 97-86 before Maxey’s scramble and big shot. The Sixers then scored another six consecutive points, including a dunk by 34-year-old Danny Green that left teammates flabbergasted, to push their lead back out a comfortable 105-86 with about four minutes remaining.

“We were all joking in the locker room, saying that he better get ready for the drug test tomorrow,” All-Star center Joel Embiid said of Green’s elevation and slam.

Just after halftime, the Sixers stretched their lead to 20 points on a Tobias Harris three-pointer with less than nine minutes to play. That advantage grew to 87-60 when Embiid spun in the corner and drilled a three-pointer with less than four minutes left in the period. And it reached 27 points again when Maxey hit a step-back three in the frame’s final minute.

Embiid, who on Sunday night was named one of three finalists for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award, scored 19 of his 31 points during a dominant first quarter and added 11 rebounds. After that, he got plenty of help from his teammates on a night the Sixers shot 52.2% from the floor and totaled 22 fast-break points. Maxey flirted with a triple-double with 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting, eight assists, and nine rebounds. James Harden finished with 14 points on 3-of-9 shooting, six rebounds, and six assists.

The Raptors, meanwhile. were shorthanded in the game, playing without do-it-all Rookie of the Year contender Scottie Barnes (sprained ankle) and missing an ill Gary Trent Jr. in the second half.

Embiid and Anunoby picked up double technicals after a couple of shoves. Then, the home crowd stood and booed in unison when, after Embiid lost his footing under the basket, Pascal Siakam ran him over to send him to the floor. Then, Embiid celebrated with a scream for the roaring crowd after taking a bounce pass from Harden for the and-one finish through Siakam’s contact.

That all occurred in the game’s first six minutes, a continuation of what has already become a spicy series after a physical Game 1 and postgame comments by Raptors coach Nick Nurse about the officiating.

Embiid said that level of ferocity — including picking up that technical — was by design after hearing Nurse’s comments.

“From the get-go, I didn’t really want them to set that tone,” Embiid said. “I wanted myself and us to set that tone. That’s why I picked up that first early technical foul, because I felt that there was a missed call on the other end and on defense. I just wanted to make sure that the refs just let us know how physical they wanted the game to be. So that’s why I went ahead and we started pushing each other and we both got techs.

“But I know that was their game plan. I knew that was going to be their adjustment, but I wanted to make sure I was the first one to bring the physicality.”

Embiid also set the tone with his production. After scoring 19 points in all of Game 1, he matched that total in Game 2′s first 12 minutes. That included an 11-of-12 mark from the free-throw line.

“He’s the most dominant player in this league, to me, physically,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said. “And that’s what we told him, ‘Be who you are. Be dominant. Be physical. I thought, the first three minutes, they spent time trying to hit him and deliver blows to him and I was like, ‘No, Jo, you be the dominant guy.’ ...

“I loved how he ran down the floor into the paint [for] rim runs. That’s good for us, and we need that more.”

Toronto point guard Fred VanVleet, meanwhile, also started hot with 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting from three-point distance. But he fizzled after that, scoring just five points during the final three quarters and finishing 7-of-23 from the field and 5-of-16 from beyond the arc.

Following the back and forth between Embiid and VanVleet in the first quarter, the Sixers created double-digit distance with Embiid on the bench.

Rivers went back to the Maxey-Harden combination that he said he really liked in Game 1. And it worked brilliantly for the Sixers again, outscoring the Raptors by 15-5 during the stretch that lasted just under three minutes.

After a scoreless first quarter, Maxey got two quick buckets on a floater and crafty finish inside. Green and Harris both buried three-pointers, before Harden drained a quintessential step-back three to put the Sixers up 55-44 about midway through the period.

After briefly cutting the Sixers’ lead to nine points on a Thad Young hook shot just after Embiid reentered, the Raptors never got within single digits again.

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The cliché states that no playoff series begins until the home team loses. And even with this comfortable lead, it will be interesting to see how the Sixers fare during Wednesday’s Game 3 and Saturday’s Game 4.

The Raptors historically have one of the NBA’s rowdiest home-court advantages. And the Sixers will be playing without perimeter defensive stalwart Matisse Thybulle, who is ineligible to travel to Canada because he has chosen to be unvaccinated against COVID-19. Thybulle finished with five points and one assist in 10 minutes Monday, and has been moved to the bench since it was revealed that he would not be able to play in those road games.

The Sixers lost in Toronto, 119-114, without Thybulle less than two weeks ago.

“We just have to [do it],” Rivers said. “We have a plan, and we just have to. We don’t have him.”