What a win for the boys! The Sixers grabbed an early lead and never looked back, leading wire-to-wire behind a dominant performance by Joel Embiid. After nearly missing Game 2 with “The Shits,” Embiid finished with 33 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, and 5 blocks, making a huge impact on both ends of the court (especially when defending Marc Gasol and Pascal Siakim). Jimmy Butler was the team’s catalyst once again, going for 22, 9, and 9 while playing stout defense of his own. Ben Simmons managed to slow down Kawhi Leonard enough defensively that the Raptors were forced to rely on their other options, which has not gone well for them in the past two games (Leonard didn’t have a bad game by any stretch of the imagination, but he was forced to take some tough shots and defer to his teammates more than Toronto would like).
Brett Brown once again outcoached Nick Nurse, switching up his lineups and schemes to minimize defensive liabilities like JJ Redick (not to single out JJ, but his best defensive outings are the ones where you go “Oh wow, I didn’t really notice JJ on defense tonight”). The team also spread the ball around on offense, with each starter scoring in double figures. Brett catches a lot of heat for his mistakes, so I hope a lot of people give him credit for his great performance so far in this series.
I’m sure the Raptors are starting to really feel the pressure now. A close, ugly Game 2 loss can be written off as a fluke: it was the first time in his career that Leonard lost a game against the Sixers, and his supporting cast had a terrible performance. Tonight’s game was different, though: the Sixers came out, punched the Raptors in the mouth, and kept punching well after the bell had been rung. Game 4 is Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia, and you can bet that both the Sixers and their fans will come out with the same intensity that they brought tonight.
Sixers in 6. Angelo Cataldi can kiss my ass.
ReJoyce 