Philadelphia 76ers: Joel Embiid can single-handedly break up the Raptors

With another monster performance, Joel Embiid could single-handedly punch the Philadelphia 76ers’ Eastern Conference Finals ticket and send the Toronto Raptors into a full-on rebuild.

Joel Embiid is an absolute machine.

Despite struggling through a nagging knee injury, the kind that would sideline a lesser player, ‘The Process’ has somehow found a way to elevate his game to a previously unfathomable level; transforming himself into the best player in the Eastern Conference.

And with another monster performance in the hallowed floors on the Wells Fargo Center, Embiid could not only punch the Philadelphia 76ers‘ ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals but also effectively launch the Toronto Raptors into a full-on rebuild; effectively reshaping the Eastern Conference standings for the foreseeable future.

More from Philadelphia 76ers

Though the Raptors have been good, very good, this season, their postseason woes have persisted even after switching coaches, adding Marc Gasol, and trading their best player, DeMar Derozan to the San Antonio Spurs for universally recognized top-5 player Kawhi Leonard and his two-guard buddy Danny Green.

However, even a player of Leonard’s caliber hasn’t been enough to usher in a new Raptors dynasty in Jurassic Park, far from it in fact.

While Leonard has been a beast so far this postseason against the Sixers, averaging 37.7 points on 41 percent from 3 point range, he’s been an army of one, as even the Raptors’ second-leading scorer, Pascal Siakam, is averaging over 10 fewer points.

Now granted, every team can’t be the 76ers, with five different players capable of taking over a game and finished it out as their top scorer, but still, after with Leonard set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, it’s hard to imagine him sticking around on a squad where his Herculean efforts can’t be supplementally compensated.

But unfortunately for Leonard, them’s the breaks.

Lauded for their depth, schematic excellence, and ‘culture’, the Raptors have been outgunned in virtually every regard this series, and may soon find themselves eliminated from Championship contention all together by as early as next weekend.

From there, Leonard will all but surely take his services elsewhere, presumably to the Los Angeles Clippers, and Raptors GM Masai Ujiri will have to evaluate his roster and determine what exactly Toronto’s short-term future will look like in the post-Leonard-era.

With players like Kyle Lowry and Gasol all but guaranteed to be casualties of this youth-driven movement, the Raptors will all but certainly take a step back with Siakam elevated to the new face of the franchise and will need to take a few seasons to reload their roster back into a serious contender.

And the 76ers?

Well, if JoJo and company can take care of business in Game 4, the team will be riding high on a serious wave of momentum as the series heads back to Toronto, where Brett Brown‘s brood can eliminate the Raptors once and for all. From there, the team will either face off against the Milwaukee Bucks or the Boston Celtics for a chance to represent the East in the NBA Finals.

Next. 3 takeaways from dominant Game 3 win. dark

Now could Kawhi Leonard conceivably decide to stick around in Toronto if the team can somehow surge back and chart their own course to the Finals? I guess anything is possible, but if Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers demoralize their opponents for a second consecutive game, they can not only ice out this series but also effectively cancel the Toronto Raptors for the foreseeable future.