One day, a team will bounce back from a 0-3 deficit and win the NBA playoff series.
But it won't be the Toronto Raptors of 2022.
As the 14th team to trail 3-0 in a 4-0 series in seven innings, winning two games in a row, the Raptors failed to extend the series to the next game. On April 29, the Philadelphia 76ers relied on their dominance in the third quarter, scoring 17 consecutive points to make it 37-17 in a single quarter, and finally beat the Raptors 132-97 on the road, ending the game in six games.
"We're not going to go back to Philadelphia to play game seven." James Harden said.
The victory put the 76ers in the Eastern Conference Finals for the fourth time in five years, this time, they hope to make a final breakthrough, after Iverson led the team to the Finals in 2001, they have not yet reached the Eastern Conference Finals, and the next round, they need to cross the Top Seed in the East, the Heat.
The 76ers took the lead with a balanced offensive performance. Joel Embiid played 36 minutes with a torn ligament in his right thumb and had 33 points and 10 rebounds on 12-of-18 shooting; Harden played the aggressiveness the 76ers desperately needed, he had 22 points, six rebounds and 15 assists. Second-year guard Teres Maxi also played a strong rebound, scoring 25 points and eight assists after scoring just 23 points combined in games four and five.
"It's funny, actually we didn't train to shoot today," 76ers head coach Doug Rivers said, "and when I called them out, they didn't want to listen to me." They said they were ready to fight. ”
That's exactly what the 76ers need, but when the game opened shortly after 7 p.m., it was far from certain to happen. In Game 3 of the series, embiid scored a deadly three-pointer in the final moments of overtime to take a 3-0 lead, and the 76ers seemed to have quelled their losing to the Raptors in the 2019 Eastern Conference semifinals.
But things didn't go so well, with the 76ers' sluggish performance allowing the Raptors to play on par with the 76ers after winning game four. In the fifth game that followed, the Raptors controlled the game from beginning to end, and they were only one minute behind, while the 76ers' home fans became more and more nervous.
That mentality was enough to get the Raptors back into the series and take them back to Game Six on Thursday night, but it wasn't enough to prop up the Raptors to the precipice of history.
Instead, it's Philadelphia. Over the past three days, the 76ers have faced endless skeptical discussions, with Embiid, Harden and Rivers' pasts talked about, and for them, the frustration of the past certainly doesn't want to feel it again.
The 76ers finally did it, thanks to their offense, and they left fans stunned and unable to even understand how the Raptors collapsed in an instant.
"Listen, first congratulations to them," Raptors head coach Nick Nas said, "I think they've done a great job in three games in this series, they've shot great, they've passed the ball in place, and that's a classic performance." ”
The 76ers ended the first half with a 62-61 lead, and in the early stages of the third quarter, they almost immediately ended the idea that the series would return home for game seven. The 76ers scored all of their first eight offenses, and before some halftime Raptors fans could get back in their seats, they took a 13-point lead.
Finally, in the first 8 minutes and 8 seconds of the third quarter, they hit a wave of 30-9 attacks, hardened a retreat three-pointer to give the 76ers a 92-70 lead, the Raptors were forced to pause, and Harden cheered and celebrated.
"He's such a tough guy," Tobias Harris said of Harden, "so, when he made all these moves, got us all involved, he pushed the rhythm, it meant a lot to our whole team." ”
For the 76ers, Game Six was a perfect redemption game — and even more so for Harden. He made just 11 shots in his fifth game and came under widespread criticism. Embiid said Harden needed to be more aggressive, but it was Rivers who made Harden do it.
Harden seemed to take that phrase to heart at the start of Game Six, and he completed a dunk. It was his second dunk in the series, and he didn't complete a dunk in the first two months of coming to the 76ers. In this quarter, Harden scored 10 points and gave away five assists to help the 76ers end the first quarter 34-29.
'We had the opportunity to bring them down in the first few games, but we didn't. Harden said, "So what I'm thinking is, I'm going to be aggressive, not just score, but make the right choices, get into the paint and I know good things are going to happen." ”
In the first half, both teams maintained a fiery rhythm on the offensive end, both teams executing the way they wanted to attack and trying to find unexpected surprises from the roster. Raptors bench center Chris Boucher scored a series high with 19 points and eight rebounds just before halftime, while The 76ers' Danny Green scored four three-pointers at halftime and scored 12 points.
The 76ers shot nearly 58 percent in the first half, and the Raptors shot just under 50 percent, but only 3-of-15 from outside the three-point line, but the Raptors grabbed 10 offensive rebounds and overwhelmed the 76ers with a 12-3 second-time offensive score.
Most importantly, though, the 76ers still hold a one-point lead, which sets the stage for two all-in teams to have what appears to be a thrilling game in the second half. On the contrary, the 76ers stepped forward,
Quelled any talk about making history in this series.