On March 21, Beijing time, the NBA regular season 76ers sat at home to meet the Raptors! The 76ers have been in good form lately to win two straight, rising to second in the East, while the Raptors are currently in Seventh Place in the East and are still struggling to avoid playing the playoffs. In the end, after four quarters of fighting, the 76ers lost to the Raptors 88-93.
The 76ers did not have a rotating player in this game, and followed the starting lineup since Harden's debut: Sable + Tobias Harris + Embiid + Maxi + Harden. The Raptors are missing point guard VanVleet, and in terms of paper strength, the 76ers are undoubtedly better. The 76ers in the first quarter also proved this, and their offense was very smooth, at one point establishing a 16-point lead and 37 points in a single quarter!
However, just when it was thought that the 76ers would easily win the game, the situation on the court changed sharply. The 76ers' rhythm plummeted, there was no counterattack, and the three-point line felt cold, and the Raptors seized the opportunity to walk out of the abyss in the second quarter and surpass the score in one fell swoop. The two teams began to play iron madly, and the 76ers regained the lead with embiid's frequent killings.
In the final quarter, Harden led the second team, a little absent-minded, consecutive mistakes, the Raptors played a 13-5 small climax to surpass the score, stopping the 76ers. After that, the two teams fell into a tug-of-war, both sides scored basically from the free throws, and at the critical moment, Harden missed 2 free throws and missed the opportunity to reverse the score!
Siakam then rolled over and slid a jumper into the basket to stretch the gap to 3 points, Embiid made a fatal mistake, Trent grabbed a dragon to counter the basket, Harden struggled to chase back, grabbed the ball and cut out the foul. Rivers challenged to successfully change the midfield jump ball, and the 76ers jumped to the ball and there was still a glimmer of life, but Embiid lost the jump against Achuva, who was 10 centimeters shorter than himself. The 76ers had to use foul tactics, Achuva made 1 of 2 free throws, the point difference reached 4 points, and the 76ers scored a quick 2 points to continue fouling. The dramatic scene happened again, barnes missed two free throws, leaving the 76ers with 7.2 seconds to go, and the 76ers had a chance to draw or kill.
Back from a timeout, the 76ers picked a solid two-pointer, hardening the inside and hitting Boucher in the face with an iron elbow that fell to the ground. The referee decisively gave the offensive foul, and after watching the video replay, he directly escalated to a first-level malicious foul, two penalties and one throw, and the suspense of the game ended completely.
In the whole game, Harden shot 5 of 12, 4 of 4 three-pointers, had 17 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals and 6 turnovers, and in the crucial fourth quarter, Harden sent 4 turnovers. Embiid's performance was equally bad, with 21 points, 13 rebounds and 2 assists on just 6-of-20 shooting!
It's rare for a double star to be down at the same time, and it's a rare occurrence that makes one wonder if the 76ers really want to win this game! After losing today's game, the 76ers' record dropped to third in the East, and the first round will not meet the Nets, is philadelphia already starting to lay out the playoffs?
Talking about the performance after the game, Harden said that he needed to perform better, and many mistakes were caused by carelessness!
Hopefully, the 76ers are still focused on improving themselves, don't think about their opponents in the playoffs, if your goal is the championship, eventually you have to beat all the opponents. If you lose your best form in order to lay out the playoffs, it is not worth the loss.