Philadelphia, April 19 (BUS): Joel Embiid hit his stiff arm moments after the tip and pushed his seven foot back. Trying to maintain his composure, Embiid absorbed a few deliberate blows from the Raptors’ defense who was clearly trying to bully the huge man.
Coach Doc Rivers gave Embiid a quick message: “No, Joe, you’re the man in control.”
The Associated Press reported that the NBA MVP finalist quit the procrastination and started to dominate.
Embiid took his block and worked his way up to 31 points and 11 rebounds, Therese Maxi showed he wasn’t a fan in a single post-season game, and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Toronto Raptors 112-97 on Monday night to advance 2-0 in the first half. Round chain.
“They put me on the floor a few times and for me, that’s where it gets interesting,” Embiid said. “I’m a fan, great. I’ll come back with more power and make you offend me.”
Embiid made foul after foul – rubbing parts of his shoulders and elbows and flicking at least one hit to his foot – and made 12 of 14 free throws. He made 9 out of 16 shots from the ground for the match.
“This is what we need from Big Fella,” Maxi said.
Maxi scored 23 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Tobias Harris scored 20 points and 10 rebounds. James Harden scored 14.
Game three in the Eastern Conference series on Wednesday in Toronto.
The Raptors trailed by 27 points but showed some life in the fourth inning and reduced it to 11 until Maxi, star of Game 1, buried 3 which got the Sixers back to rolling again.
OG Anunoby led the Raptors with 26 points. Pascal Siakam and Fred Vanfleet each had 20.
The Raptors came prepared to attack after coach Nick Norse accused officials of letting the Sixers get away with blunders in the first game. Just two minutes into the match, Anunoby pushed Embiid, Embiid pushed back and both teams were forced to separate and the crowd erupted. Anonobi and Embiid whistled due to technical errors.
I didn’t really want them to set that tune,” Embiid said. “I wanted to set myself and us this tune. That’s why I made this early artistic mistake.”
The Raptors led 11-2 and had their first six fouls to none for the 77th.
“They wanted to spoil the game and the physical play,” Rivers said. “I just asked our guys to play through it.”
Ambied, the NBA champion who scored just 19 points in the first game, was fouled by Siakam and took a free throw — one of 11 he scored in the quarter in 12 attempts. He matched his game total to 1 with 19 points in a quarter.
Embiid told the nurse in the final moments of the match that he would continue to do all free throws if Toronto continued to abuse him.
Crooked nurse? “You might have to.”
Embiid laughed and said he told the nurse, “Respectfully, to stop the calls.”
Vanfleet scored 17 points in the inning and tried to keep the Raptors in the game. Maxi, who had 38 points in Game 1, didn’t score until hitting a float in the lane with 8:03 per second remaining. He followed it up with a throwback to lead 50-42 and suddenly the Sixers had some juice. Harden hit 3 to score 11 points.
The half ended with a tense moment.
Harden tried to split two defenders on a track in the fairway in the final seconds of the game and hit Embiid’s left knee. Embiid’s left ankle seemed to twist and both players fell into a pile. Both stars lay on his back for several moments: Harden rubbed his neck and head. Embiid limps down the court on the next possession.
Sixers fans held their breath in the first half.
Philly’s first bucket of the third quarter? How about a Harden-to-Embiid on an oop alley that settled nerves and shook the edge.
Embiid scored nine more points in third place, while Maxi scored seven points to lead 95-73 at the end of the third. Embiid scored 28 points and grabbed 11 rebounds before making his first mistake in the middle of the fourth half
Embiid has played in everything like the All-Star who carried the Sixers this season.
“He’s the most dominant player in the league,” Rivers said.
Hint
Raptors: It was Gary Trent Jr.’s time to play with the disease. He did not score and had four errors in the first half. No longer a second.
76ers: Don Staley, the two-time South Carolina National Championship coach, rang the ceremonial bell.
coach room
Raptors forward Scotty Barnes sat up with a sprained left ankle in game one. Barnes did not reveal a timeline for his return but said he was “improving every day”.
crying saliva
“There was another slap in the face. Again, I don’t understand why I wouldn’t call them. Other than that, at least there weren’t many elbows thrown in the face tonight that we had to put up with.” – Nurse commissioner.
next one
The Sixers head to Toronto and play the next two games without a Matisse Thibault defense. Thibault, who was voted third in the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, is banned from entering Canada because he has not been fully vaccinated.