The Philadelphia 76ers did what every road team in a seven-game series aims to do. Split the first two on the road. The 76ers will travel to Philadelphia after stealing the home-court advantage in Game 2.
There was a lot surrounding their 94-89 win over the Toronto Raptors. For starters, their best player in Joel Embiid who has been hampered by a gimpy knee was dealing with a stomach illness all night. Embiid had just 12 points on 2-of-7 shooting from the field with 6 rebounds. Which meant others were asked to step up in lieu of his struggles.
That is exactly what Jimmy Butler did. Butler was the 76ers leading scorer with 30 points on 9-of-22 shooting from the field and 11 rebounds. It was a huge game for Butler who was nonexistent in the Game 1.
Butler spoke on his great game afterward:
“They put a lot of confidence in me before the game. I put in a lot of work last night, as well as this morning. All in all it was a team effort.”
He continued on to give more credit to their team defense rather than his own success.
“I always go back to defense. You knonw, we get stops we’re taking off into the open floor and guys are making plays,” said Butler. “When we’re playing like that, guarding like that, we’re such a good team.”
Butler is spot on with his analysis. In Game 1 the Raptors shot 52 percent from the field and 33 percent from deep. While in Game 2, the Raptors shot just 36.3 percent from the field and 27 percent from deep.
It was a tough shooting night for all the Raptors players not named Kawhi Leonard. Leonard scored 35 points on 13-of-24 shots, with 6 assists, and 7 rebounds.
Both teams will travel to Philadelphia for Game 3 which is on Thursday.
Brendan Abban is the owner/creator of brendanabban.com and hosts the KBR Sports podcast. Follow him on Twitter @Abbanbrendan or email him via [email protected].
