76ers need to continue increasing minutes for James Ennis in Raptors series

After arguably his best game since joining the Philadelphia 76ers, James Ennis deserves in an increased workload for the rest of the series against the Toronto Raptors.

It still doesn’t feel to consider the Philadelphia 76ers stole Game 2 from the Toronto Raptors 94-89 thanks to a strong defensive performance to even up the series 1-1.

All of a sudden, a Sixers team that looked like they were going to get swept following a disastrous performance in Game 1 last weekend seems like they have what it takes to make it a series with the Raptors, although how they follow up will be extremely important.

Brett Brown deserves all of the credit in the world for making the necessary adjustments for Philadelphia, and while Jimmy Butler stole the show after dropping 30 points to go along with 11 rebounds, it was James Ennis that emerged out of nowhere off the bench.

After receiving 21 minutes of action while converting 4-of-5 shots from the field, even if some of the time was garbage time with the game over, Ennis arguably put together his best performance since coming to Philadelphia in Game 2 to help the Sixers pull off the unthinkable with a win.

Along with 13 points in 24 minutes of action, Ennis contributed six rebounds, and was amazing on defense as well, a major area of weakness for the Sixers in Game 1.

Prior to this year’s trade deadline, Ennis was acquired from the Houston Rockets in a move that didn’t seem like that big of a deal other than providing Philadelphia with another wing player who would add depth to the bench at best.

Little did the Sixers know just how important Ennis would be for this playoff series against the Raptors, and moving forward, it’s important to make sure the forward continues to see an increased role on the court.

One game doesn’t determine what kind of playing time a player like Ennis should receive, but when looking at how bad things looked in Game 1 for Philadelphia, this is the kind of hope they need moving forward.

Taking down a talented team like the Raptors is going to take everything the Sixers have this series since there’s a reason why they earned the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

At least if Ennis puts together more performances like Game 2, Philadelphia will have a better chance of pulling this off to put them in better position to punch their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals.