Embiid posts double-double as Sixers seal 4-1 series win against Nets; Leonard stars as Raptors hammer Magic in Game 5 to close out series
Wednesday 24 April 2019 07:28, UK
The Philadelphia 76ers and the Toronto Raptors will meet in the Eastern Conference semi-finals after closing out their respective first-round series with Game 5 blowout wins.
Joel Embiid collected 23 points and 13 rebounds as the Philadelphia 76ers cruised to a wire-to-wire 122-100 victory over the visiting Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday and closed out their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series in five games.
The 76ers advanced to the conference semi-finals for the second straight season. They next will face the second-seeded Toronto Raptors in the first postseason meeting between the teams since the 2001 East semi-finals, a series the 76ers won in seven en route to their most recent NBA Finals appearance.
Philadelphia posted their third double-digit win of the series, but unlike the wins in Games 2 and 3, when the 76ers pulled away after half-time, the dominating tone was established early.
Embiid scored 10 points as the 76ers scored the game's first 14 points. The Nets went 0-for-8 on the first 14 possessions before scoring, and the 76ers held a 25-3 lead late in the first and a 32-15 edge after the opening quarter.
Philadelphia led by at least 20 points for the final 34:06 and took a 60-31 lead into half-time. The Sixers took their first 30-plus-point lead when Embiid buried a three-pointer on their first possession of the second half, and they held a 95-64 advantage entering the fourth.
Embiid made 9-of-18 shots in 20 minutes for Philadelphia, who shot 51 per cent from the floor. He also helped the 76ers finish with an overwhelming 68-44 edge in the paint.
The center exited the game with 6:26 remaining in the third with Philadelphia holding a 76-41 lead.
Ben Simmons added 13 points and also helped smother former high school team-mate D'Angelo Russell, who was held to eight points on 3-of-16 shooting from the field.
Tobias Harris contributed 12 while JJ Redick and reserve James Ennis III chipped in 11 points apiece. Jonathon Simmons scored 10 for the hosts.
The 76ers scored at least 120 points in three of their four wins to advance to the conference semi-finals for the first time in consecutive seasons since 1999-2001.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson scored 21 points and Caris LeVert added 18 points for the Nets, whose first postseason appearance since 2015 ended with them shooting 38.7 per cent from the floor.
With 1:50 left and Philadelphia up 118-91, Brooklyn's Rodions Kurucs took exception to being held by Jonah Bolden under the hoop. Both players exchanged words and shoved each other before being separated. Officials ejected Kurucs and Brooklyn's Dzanan Musa along with Bolden and Greg Monroe from Philadelphia.
The incident capped a series that featured nine technical fouls, three flagrant fouls and six ejections.
Kyle Lowry contributed Toronto's first nine points to a game-opening 12-1 flurry, propelling the Raptors to a 115-96 blowout win over the visiting Orlando Magic and a 4-1 win in an Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.
The second-seeded Raptors will move on to the Eastern semi-finals, where they will hold the home-court advantage over the third-seeded Philadelphia 76ers.
With a chance to wrap up the best-of-seven set at home, the Raptors wasted no time taking charge. Lowry had three two-point hoops and a three-pointer in his early burst, and Kawhi Leonard added a three-point play as Toronto went up by 11 before the game was three minutes old.
The Raptors' surge didn't stop there. After Aaron Gordon dropped in Orlando's first basket 3:23 into the game to cut the gap to 12-3, Toronto immediately went on another 10-0 run to expand the lead to 22-3 at the 5:09 mark of the first period. Lowry buried a second three-pointer in the second spurt.
In winning for the fourth straight time after a series-opening loss at home to Orlando, the Raptors led 35-19 after one quarter and never allowed the Magic closer than 11 after that.
In fact, after building a 67-47 halftime advantage, Toronto never led by fewer than 17 points the rest of the way.
Leonard finished with 27 points and Pascal Siakam 24 for the Raptors, who had never previously won four straight games in the same playoff series. Leonard's game-high total included 5-for-5 shooting on three-point attempts.
Lowry totaled 14 points while Norman Powell added 11 and Serge Ibaka 10 for Toronto, who won the final four games of the series by a cumulative 75 points after dropping the opener 104-101.
Lowry also found time for nine assists, one fewer than team-mate Fred VanVleet's game-high total.
DJ Augustin, the hero of Orlando's Game 1 win with a late three-pointer, had a team-high 15 points for the Magic. Orlando weres making their first playoff appearance since losing in the first round to Indiana in 2012.
