Enjoy this one ‘ya hornswaggles. Keep the cutlass’ in the orlop.
 | PHI 76ers | 96 | Final Box Score | 101 | TOR Raptors |  |
 A+ | P. Siakam40 MIN, 25 PTS, 7 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 9-19 FG, 2-6 3FG, 5-6 FT, 2 BLK, 1 TO, 12 +/- Superstar. No question about it. Many have been asking for more of his involvement in the screen n’ roll and it was there tonight. Passed well out of pressure, killed the 76ers when he had a mismatch, and was a hawk on defense. Terrific stuff. Also, he finished the game in the most bad*** way. | |
 A | O. Anunoby35 MIN, 12 PTS, 3 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 5-10 FG, 2-5 3FG, 0-2 FT, 1 BLK, 2 TO, 2 +/- All-NBA Defense. Simply put. Love seeing him put up 10-12 shots in a game, and he looked really confident attacking closeouts. Everything is coming together, and tonight was just another example of him ace-ing his role. | |
 A+ | M. Gasol35 MIN, 3 PTS, 6 REB, 9 AST, 0 STL, 1-8 FG, 1-6 3FG, 0-2 FT, 2 BLK, 1 TO, 5 +/- What’s left to say? Embiid scored zero points. Gasol did a good job of flashing to Pascal as a release valve on offense (think of the last three VanVleet hit) and then working the ball to the weak-side of the defense afterwards. Big brain game from Gasol. | |
 A+ | F. VanVleet38 MIN, 24 PTS, 3 REB, 8 AST, 2 STL, 9-15 FG, 3-6 3FG, 3-4 FT, 0 BLK, 3 TO, 7 +/- After last year, one might think that VanVleet would struggle again. Nope! There’s no question that he was the best guard on the floor tonight (even with J-Rich playing awesome). Pushed relentlessly, hit his spot-up shots, and showed off crisp playmaking downhill. | |
 B | N. Powell28 MIN, 10 PTS, 5 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 3-11 FG, 2-5 3FG, 2-2 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, 10 +/- The middle of the game was tough for him, but overstated on the broadcast. It wasn’t surprising to see him can his last two triples, and get in the passing lanes to dig for loose balls on defense. Not his best, of course, but he brought it back in a real way in the fourth quarter. | |
 A+ | R. Hollis-Jefferson31 MIN, 16 PTS, 10 REB, 3 AST, 0 STL, 6-11 FG, 0-0 3FG, 4-6 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -4 +/- If you watched him play against the 76ers in last years playoffs you might’ve seen this coming. He’s a killer in the soft spots, and he made Horford and Embiid pay every time they even thought about not getting after the ball. A massive double-double and no doubt a Reggie Evans award winner. | |
 A- | T. Davis21 MIN, 11 PTS, 3 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 5-8 FG, 1-4 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -9 +/- Big time performance off the bench in this one. Tough stretch in the second quarter, but his second half was sublime. No fear going into the paint against the Philly bigs, and showed some improved screen play in this one. Awesome job guiding his primary defender into screens and bouncing after the contact. It’s that type of screen play that creates the 2-on-1 advantages, and with his big body he’s getting good at it. | |
 B | C. Boucher13 MIN, 0 PTS, 3 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 0-2 FG, 0-2 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 2 +/- Not the game for him, as RHJ-Gasol-Siakam ate the minutes up. Slow game, and huge bodies waiting for him in the paint, but he did a commendable job competing (even if the box score wasn’t his friend tonight). The length never goes away, and even though he was a bit frenetic on defense he was a factor in his time on the floor. | |
 A+ | Nick Nurse Yet again the Raptors completely eliminated a star player on the opposite team. I’d love to see the Raptors walking through their game plans, because with how much success this defense has at negating true stars, they should be legend. WON A CHALLENGE! | |
Things We Saw
- There’s few things like the Gasol-Embiid matchup. And tonight didn’t disappoint for Raptors fans. It’s tough to remember a star player with a worse idea of where his strengths are than Embiid in the past 5 years. Horrible performance from the big man tonight as Gasol scared him all the way out of the paint.
- Finally we saw Siakam + the pick n’ roll. Whether he was used as a screener or ball handler that was a welcome sight. A couple 4-1 plays with VanVleet, which I love, it’s always best to get your best players working in tandem.
- Even though the 76ers lost, if Josh Richardson plays like this in 4 out of 7 playoff games the 76ers will be an incredibly tough out in the playoffs for whoever they face. That shotmaking to un-gum the paint is everything for the Sixers offense. It’s performances like that, that make the Butler situation hurt less for them.
