On April 19, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs were in full swing, and the 76ers continued to sit at home to meet the Raptors. The 76ers scored 131 points in the first meeting between the two teams, beating the Raptors by 20 points, and today the 76ers continued the fiery state of the previous game, and finally 112-97 went to the next city, rewriting the big score to 2-0!
For the Raptors who lost a city first, they are the one who needs to take the initiative to adjust in this game, but the space they can adjust is very limited, and the team's last outstanding Barnes, because he was trampled by Embiid and missed the game, the Raptors had to temporarily put Achuva in the fifth position.
Obviously, you can't expect a second-year student, who is only the height and body of the front, to be able to restrain Embiid on the inside. Therefore, the Raptors, in the last game when they were beaten by Maxi, still firmly implemented a bag-and-clip strategy against Embiid, choosing to let the rest of the 76ers beat themselves.
However, the game did not move as Nas expected, and Embiid, who was dissatisfied with his last performance, filled the offensive aggressiveness in the first quarter of the game, although tens of millions of people were looking forward to it! Embiid stood on the free throw line 12 times in the first quarter, with 19 points in a single quarter, and no one could stop him. The Raptors made a beautiful start with 3 three-pointers and disappeared in the blink of an eye. At the end of the first quarter, although the Raptors hit five three-pointers, they only led the 76ers by one point.
Embiid's 76ers became even more overwhelming after the first attack, and Philadelphia counterattacked in the second quarter, with three points raining down the line. Maxi, who did not have much offensive opportunity in the first quarter, suddenly broke out, scoring eight consecutive points, Harden also hit the signature retreat three-pointer, and the 76ers quickly established a double-digit lead. The Raptors failed to respond in time, and VanVleet, who hit four three-pointers in the first quarter, was magically absent, and the Raptors trailed by as many as 15 points at halftime.
The second half of the game did not make waves, the Raptors failed to usher in a rebound, and the 76ers offensive attack did not decrease, more points blossomed, the point difference directly came to the 20 points outside, the game lost suspense early.
The 76ers made 30 free throws (18 for the Raptors) in the game, and were aggressive, with all five starting players scoring in double figures! Embiid shot 9-of-16, 12-of-14 from the field, and cut 31 points and 11 rebounds, and the bag clip couldn't stop him, and there was no other way but foul; Maxi was still efficient, cutting a quasi-triple-double of 23 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists; Harris also had 20 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Harden's shooting form today is still not good, contributing 14 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks on 3-of-9 shooting, and did not score a single point in the second half. On the one hand, we sighed and worried about the decline in Harden's state; on the other hand, in the second half, Harden scored 0 points, 2 assists and 2 turnovers on 3 shots, the 76ers still firmly controlled the game situation and beat the Raptors, I have to say that now this 76ers are really strong, they do not rely on Harden's score, although 2 years ago Harden's most murderous weapon was his scoring explosiveness.
According to statistics, in the seven best-of-four series in the history of the NBA playoffs, there have been 327 big scores 2-0 leading, of which 302 times the leading side finally advanced, with a promotion probability of 92.6%.
The Raptors are now in a very critical position, with two consecutive defeats, nothing they can do to take the opponent's strong points, and the starting center also injured his ankle. The only good news is that the 76ers' forward defense of Sable, who is not fully vaccinated and cannot play at home with the Raptors, may be an X factor in the game! Expecting the raptors G3 to adjust, it is said that the series really starts from the away win, and if the Raptors G3 loses again, then the series is over.