– Matisse Thybulle won’t be there for Game 6. The half-vaccinated winger not cleared to travel to Canada has really appeared out of rhythm in attack and low impact in defense (where you might expect). His only points were scored by Achiuwa against his camp… The fact that he does not make the trip to Toronto is almost a plus for the Sixers…
The collective positives
– The Raptors defense is getting better and better as the series progresses. Philly was limited to 88 points and had its lowest addresses since the start (38% overall, 27% at 3-pointers). The absence of VanVleet, struggling with his knee problems, seems like a blessing in disguise. Indeed, in his absence Nurse can align his five large sizes and wingspans which considerably hinder the Sixers, like Tyrese Maxey whose points statistics are in freefall (38,23,19,11 and 12 points on Monday ).
– The losses of the ball caused were also, once again, a key element with 16 lost balls by Philadelphia which brought 20 points to the Torontonians.
– Joël Embiid, already diminished by his thumb injury, appeared tired in the 3rd quarter. He runs at 40 minutes per game in the series, he who runs at 33 in the regular season and who has never averaged more than 36 minutes per game on a series in his career. Targeted by the Toronto attack, he suffered the penetrations of Precious Achiuwa and Pascal Siakam conceding points on 5 possessions in a row.
Individual positives
– Pascal Siakam is the best player on the field for two games. Monday, he went very close to the triple double with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists. With a little more skill from afar on the part of his teammates, he would have exceeded 10 assists since they shot 2/10 to 3 on his passes.