Danny Green’s dunk in Game 2 could echo deep into the playoffs for the Sixers

This was not a liftoff. It was a miracle of physics. Rumbling down the court with five minutes to go, you could almost hear the landing gear groaning as the 34-year-old veteran planted a wobbly leg.

Scattered around the court, four teammates watched with a combination of amazement and concern. Tyrese Maxey was standing near half court thinking about the last time Danny Green had attempted to convert one of his fast-break passes. Tobias Harris was standing in the corner, thinking he was about to receive a pass. Doc Rivers was on the bench, thinking the paranoid thoughts of a coach with a vacillating lead. If Green had a copilot, he would have been glancing nervously across the cockpit.

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid and the Sixers refuse to get ‘punked’ by the Raptors in Game 2

”I think we were all just praying that he was OK,” Maxey would say later.

He was, and so were the Sixers, and there’s an appropriate amount of overlap between those two facts. Green’s one-handed fast-break dunk in the closing minutes of a second straight blowout win may not have been the game’s most pivotal play, but it did offer the tidiest summation of the events of Game 2.

After a month of hand-wringing and head-scratching that left more than a few so-called experts predicting imminent doom, the Sixers are starting to look like a fully formed team.

The latest piece of evidence that we may have underestimated this group came in the form of a 112-97 win that left them two wins away from the Eastern Conference semis. More specifically, it came from the contributions of a couple of players responsible for filling the roles that have the potential to make this a championship team. If this version of Green and Tobias Harris sticks around, so too will the Sixers.

That might sound counterintuitive, given the three-headed monster that has emerged in the first two games of this postseason. Game 2 looked a lot like Game 1 as far as the stars go. The Raptors’ strategy for containing Joel Embiid was mostly to foul and complain. They did a little better with Tyrese Maxey, but still watched him score 23. James Harden was the maestro, content to make it all look smooth.

» READ MORE: Embiid responds to Nick Nurse about his officiating complaints: ‘I told him to stop bitching about calls’

Yet the structure of the Eastern Conference’s elite and that of the Sixers themselves is going to require more than three horsemen to make it all work. In Harden, they have a point guard whose chief strength is his ability to maneuver the court into a position where he can exploit what he sees. In Embiid, they have the most dominant physical presence in the NBA, a player who creates space for his teammates without even touching the ball. But shot-creators needs shot-makers, and that’s where Green and Harris come in.

In Game 2, both made the most of their opportunities, Harris knocking down all three of his catch-and-shoot threes, Green going 3-for-9. Together, they combined for 31 points on 23 shot attempts, a level of efficiency that is deadly complementary while surrounding the other three.

”[Joel] and James, when they’re attacking the basket and putting pressure on the paint, I’m getting great open looks,” Green said. “We shot 50 [percent] last game, 46 tonight, if we continue to shoot that well it will be an easier series for us.”

The formula is not complicated. We saw it throughout Harden’s tenure in Houston, and we’ve seen it whenever Embiid has been surrounded by above-average shooters. In the corners, on the wings, there will be open shots. The Sixers just need a couple of players who will consistently knock them down.

Harris, in particular, has been a revelation in the first two games of this series. After the Sixers acquired Harden in mid-February, Rivers had a sit-down with the highly compensated veteran and told him that he needed him to embrace a new role. Harris has always been most comfortable with the ball in his hands, working off the dribble, the pick-and-roll, in the center of it all. But what the Sixers needed now was a player who could catch the ball and shoot.

» READ MORE: Ranking the top Sixers of all-time

”This is the first time in my career where catch-and-shoot was an emphasis for me,” said Harris, who finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds while also battling Pascal Siakam on the defensive end. “In years prior, it was more that I would catch the ball, isolate, wait, hold. It was just evaluating how to be more efficient in the role. That was a big emphasis from the All-Star break, catching that ball and shooting quick.”

Credit the work that Rivers has put in with Harris, both psychologically and on the court. In the two victories this series, Harris has scored 46 points while knocking down 6 of 8 three-point attempts. He looked smooth, and decisive, and in a shooter’s rhythm.

”It’s huge,” Rivers said. “And it took him some getting used to. You have to be patient with guys. This guy has given everything for this team . . . Tobias has had to make more changes than anybody on our team. And he keeps doing it without complaint. It’s such a great example of what a good teammate should be, and he’s been doing it every night.”

There will be much tougher opponents than the Raptors this postseason. But let’s not forget how much skepticism abounded before the start of this series. The Sixers are showing that they are much closer to the three teams that finished the season above them in the standings than the one that finished immediately below them. As long as Harris and Green are knocking down shots, that truth should continue to hold.