The Toronto Raptors lived to see another game.
Pascal Siakam scored 34 points with his best performance in those playoffs, and the Raptors beat the visiting 76ers 110-102 on Saturday to avoid elimination in the first round of playoffs.
Gay 5 of the top seven of the seven takes place Monday in Philadelphia.
Gary Trent Jr. had 24 points, while Thaddeus Young scored 13 and O.G. Anunnobi finished with 11 for the Raptors, who played more than half of the game without injured star defender Fred VanVleet.
WATCH l Siakam scores career-high playoffs with 34 points as Toronto avoids smashing against 76ers:
The star of Siakam in Game 4 of the Raptors beat over 76ers
Pascal Siakam scored career-high playoffs with 34 points after Toronto avoided a 110-102 victory. 2:32
Scotty Barnes, the new rookie of the year in the Toronto NBA, finished with six points and 11 rebounds in his return after missing two games with a sprained left ankle.
WATCH Barnes takes home rookie of the year awards:
Scotty Barnes receives his Rookie of the Year award from Masai Ujiri
Barnes was honored on the central court before Game 4 of the Toronto game against the 76ers. 0:57
James Harden scored 22 points for Philly, while Joel Embiid, who played with a thumb injury, finished 21.
While the Raptors led by as many as 17 points on Wednesday before their heartbreaking loss in overtime, Game 4 was a tough battle from the start. The Raptors combined a 12-point cushion in the second quarter, but the Sixers closed the gap and the Raptors came in fourth with a 80-77 lead.
The Sixers reduced the lead to one point, but the Raptors responded 6-0, and when Young deflected the ball from Embide and Precious Achiuwa finished with a basket, the Raptors increased the lead by seven to 9:11 to play.
Anunobi broke a three-pointer, after which Siakam connected with a pair of free throws for a 14-point lead with 3:28 per game. The Sixers fell apart in the last few minutes. Embiid whistled for technical when he checked Siakam’s body.
Achiuva gave the Raptors a 14-point lead when they broke the defense to the basket with 1:28 per game, much to the delight of a boisterous audience at Scotiabank Arena, which included singer Avril Lavigne.
Raptors coach Nick Nurs emptied his bench with 1:19 to play while the crowd chanted “Raps in seven!”
Siakam’s strong play came three days after he scored just 12 points – and zero in the second half – in Game 3 and vowed to be more aggressive.
No team in NBA history has returned from a 3-0 deficit to win a series that Nurse called a “challenge,” saying “someone has to do it.” Thirteen NBA teams have returned from a 3-1 deficit to win a series, including the Denver Nuggets, who did so twice in the 2020 playoffs.
Barnes won a standing ovation when team president Masai Ujiri presented his rookie of the year award before the signal. Former great Raptor player Vince Carter announced the news to the 20-year-old footballer through a video during team training.
Raptors rookie of the year Scotty Barnes (right) guards James Harden of the 76ers. Barnes has returned to Toronto after missing his last two games due to injury. (Alex Lupul / CBC)
Injuries are piling up
VanVleet, who missed 13 games at the end of the stretch with a bruise on his right knee, left the game with a sprain of his left thigh at the end of the second quarter. He limped badly on the court, grabbed the neck of his shirt with both hands and tore it apart in disappointment. He was limping straight to the locker room.
Embid, who hit the winning three in the 104-101 overtime victory on Wednesday, played with a thumb injury he fears is a torn tendon. He repeatedly shook hands with his grimace on Saturday. He will soon undergo an MRI.
“I think we already know what it’s like to be honest, but we just have to make sure,” said Sixers coach Doc Rivers. “We feel it’s not a big injury and I’ll just leave it at that.”
Siakam led by 10 points in the first quarter, with no team leading by more than four points. The Raptors shot just 2-for-9 out of three points, but did enough to head for the second, a draw with Philly at 24-24.
Trent Jr. had 12 points in the second and his three-pointer with about four minutes to the end of the quarter stopped the Raptors’ 26-11 series and saw them rise to 12. The Sixers closed with an 11-4 series and the Raptors led 54-. 49 on vacation.
YES let’s go‼ ️ pic.twitter.com/3WbNHYB4SR
– @Raptors
The Sixers won Games 1 and 2 in Philadelphia 131-111 and 112-97.
The series will return to Toronto for Game 6 if necessary.
This series is the Raptors’ first playoff action at the Scotiabank Arena since the 2019 championship. The Raptors sent the Sixers in seven games in the conference semifinals that year.
The Raptors were swept away in three playoff series, twice by Cleveland in 2017 and ’18 and by Washington in 2015.
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