Philadelphia 76ers: Playoff woes continue in a terrible Game 5 loss
The Philadelphia 76ers were blown out by the Toronto Raptors in Game 5, and the entire team is to blame with poor performances all around.
Where to begin? The Philadelphia 76ers have become a completely different team since their 21 point Game 3 win; losing the next two games with Game 5 being an absolute disaster. The Sixers only put up 89 points and lost by 36. Not only was this loss tough to watch it diminishes hopes of moving on to the next round of the playoffs.
When a team only puts up 89 points in a game, it’s easy to say they had a poor scoring performance. Well, that’s easy to say with the Sixers when their top scorer Jimmy Butler barely scratched the surface of 20 with 22 points in 29 minutes, shooting 37.5 percent from the field. To find a bright side in a dim game, Butler did lead the team in assists with seven and went 10-11 from the free-throw line. Still, defensively Butler was just like every other Sixer recording a -17 Real Plus-Minus.
Then there’s Tobias Harris. The supposed star player has been absent this entire series with his highest scoring effort being 16 in Game 4, falling one point short in Game 5. Harris played a total of 34 minutes but only put up 12 shots, missing half. Harris also had the worst RPM of any player on the team with a -34.
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To continue on, Joel Embiid, who may still not be 100 percent with illness but that isn’t an excuse for this type of performance. Not only did Embiid put up just 13 points in 31 minutes going 5-10 from the field and only 2-6 from 3. He also led the team in turnovers with a devastating eight on the night; clearly evident in his -15 RPM.
Even further, Ben Simmons‘ cold streak continues with his fourth straight game of scoring 10 or fewer points. Simmons only managed to put up seven points on five shots from the field. For a starting point guard, let alone a supposed leader of the team, Simmons’ stat were absolutely inexcusable. Making matters worse, he managed only one free throw attempt and five turnovers for a -8 RPM.
J.J. Redick also was a complete non-factor, only taking six shots in 31 minutes of action. He was also exposed on the defensive end with a -21 RPM. Redick is the Sixers’ offensive sparkplug when it comes to his ability to rain 3s, but his Game five performance was the exact opposite.
The Sixers bench also provided very little with five players scoring a combined seven points. With Jonah Bolden and T.J. McConnell both having zero points on eight minutes. James Ennis III only scored one point, and Greg Monroe was able to get two. And then there’s Amir Johnson, who was able to double Monroe’s score as Jonathon Simmons and Boban Marjanovic scored six. Mike Scott would lead the bench in scoring with 10 points off of 4-5 shooting with two made 3 pointers.
Next. 76ers have a lot to answer for after gutless showing in Game 5 loss to Raptors. dark
The entire Philadelphia 76ers team hit a brick wall in Game 5 after starting to fall off in Game 4. A lack of scoring, effortless defense and wasted minutes has caused hope to diminish for Sixers fans as they watch their team drop two games in a row to go down 3-2 in the series. It’s not a matter of one or two players stepping up to survive this round but every single player stepping up and locking in to get to the Eastern Conference Finals.