Joel embiid delivered a monster 33-point, 10-rebound performance Thursday night against Toronto, leading the Sixers to a 116-95 win in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semis.
Jimmy Butler added 22 points and 9 boards for Philadelphia, which took a 2-1 series lead.
Kawhi Leonard had 33 points and lamented the Raptors’ lack of scoring.
Per The AP:
“When I have fun, my game just changes,” Embiid said. “I’m always told if I don’t smile during the game it means I’m having a bad game or I’m not into it. I know to get my game going, I’ve got to have fun on the court.”
Leonard toyed with Ben Simmons in the third to lead Toronto’s charge back into the game. The Raptors ran Simmons through screens to give Leonard the space he needed to create and bury open jumpers. And when there was no space, Leonard simply bullied his way to the basket. He shoved a right elbow into James Ennis III and spun around him for a two-handed jam. Leonard made all six baskets and scored 14 points in the quarter to cut the deficit to eight points. Kyle Lowry and Danny Green offered little help (20 combined points) and Leonard couldn’t carry the Raptors on his own.
“They did a great job scoring. We didn’t,” Leonard said.
Embiid wore a black Process hoodie to the postgame press conference.
“We’ve got a lot more to give and do something special,” Embiid said.
