Kawhi Leonard had another 30-plus point performance.
Kyle Lowry made two clutch threes late in the fourth quarter.
The Raptors, down 19 points, cut the deficit to one with less than a minute to go.
Despite the numerous Raptors surges, the Sixers slammed the door shut every time. Philadelphia’s 94-89 victory evened the series at one but more importantly signaled their adjustments worked against Toronto.
“We guarded,” Sixers small forward Jimmy Butler said after the game. “Everyone wants to paint the picture that we hadn’t won here in years. As long we get back, guard, rebound and not turn the ball over, we will be alright.”
Right from the opening tip, the Sixers played with more energy and intensity than the Raptors. It was clear that Brett Brown wanted his defense to stop Leonard and power forward Pascal Siakam, who both had breakout performances in Game 1.
In the first quarter, Leonard was double-teamed whenever he maintained possession of the ball. Sixers big man Joel Embiid guarded Siakam. The defenders were in lock-down mode, clogging the paint and making the Raptors star players shoot contested shots.
This forced the Raptors secondary scorers, such as Marc Gasol, Danny Green, to make shots, since they were open.
Unfortunately for the Raptors, this did not happen. The Sixers outscored the Raptors 26 to 17 in the opening quarter, holding them to 36.3 shooting from the field and 27 percent from three for the game.
Even though the Raptors held the Sixers to 39.5 percent shooting from the field, the Philadelphia offense made the important shots.
Butler supplied the Sixers with a bulk of the offense, recording 30 points in the win. Butler also made four threes and was able to drive to the basket with authority through the Raptors defense.
Sixers coach Brett Brown on Jimmy Butler (30 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists) in Game 2 win over Raptors: "That was James Butler. That was the adult in the gym. A stud." pic.twitter.com/uU0ViI4rvT
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) April 30, 2019
Besides Butler, the Sixers got secondary scoring from their bench players, particularly James Ennis III and Greg Monroe. Heading into Game 2, Monroe was averaging 4.5 points per game. The Sixers back up big man generated 10 points in Game 2.
On the flip side, the Raptors bench combined for just five points. In a defensive game where both teams posted less than 100 points, the Raptors bench players going 2-for-11 from the field did not provide the necessary offense to win.
This demonstrated that Raptors head coach Nick Nurse may need to shorten his rotation if his team is going to have success.
Philadelphia brought the urgency and physicality to their game to tie the series. Toronto knew they are in for a battle.
“They adjusted, now we have to adjust,” Lowry said. “We’ll watch the film to see how differently we can play. There’s always going to be adjustments, that’s the great part about the playoffs.”
