Joel Embiid led the Sixers with 33 points and 10 rebounds, as they won the series 4-2. They will face the Miami Heat in the second round. Gary Trent Jr. led the Raptors with 19 points, while rookie Scottie Barnes added 18. The Raptors were missing all-star guard Fred VanVleet. After losing the first three games of the series, the Raptors rallied to win two elimination games, giving supporters optimism for a historic series victory.
The Raptors, coming off a strong 103-88 victory on Monday, held the game within seven points for the most of the first half despite poor shooting. However, they never appeared to be in sync on either end of the court throughout the night, and the Sixers blasted the game wide open in the third quarter with a 30-9 run. To the boos of the 19,800-strong Scotiabank Arena audience, the Sixers made six three-pointers in the quarter, and a Harden long bomb put Philadelphia ahead by 22 points with 3:52 remaining in the period. In the third quarter, the visitors outscored Toronto 37-17 and led 99-78 to begin the fourth.
A Barnes three-pointer less than a minute into the fourth quarter cut the deficit to 18, but Embiid virtually single-handedly put an end to any possibility of an unlikely comeback, scoring ten points in less than four minutes. And when Tobias Harris slammed home a dunk with 4:34 remaining, Philadelphia had a commanding 27-point lead.
