Playoff Pod: Episode 17 - Round 2 Game 4 Rewind

the postgame show seventy Sixers and the Raptors. Hard, hard, hard fought game here in Game four in the second round, eleven ties, ten lead changes, great performances on both ends of the floor. Jimmy Butler again terrific, twenty nine points, eleven rebounds. JJ Reddick was fantastic. But this man, Kawhi Leonard is a darn good professional basketball player. Might be a Top one player in the NBA the way he's going right now, and with the game on the line,

Leonard stepped up. Jimmy Butler hit this amazing turnaround bank shot three as the shot clock was expiring. The seventy six Ers up eighty four eighty one about three minutes not even into the fourth quarter. From there, Marcus all a huge time three pointer and after that Kawhile Leonard would score seven of the raptors next ten points, including a monster three that made it ninety four to ninety with sixty one seconds to go in the game. Thirty

nine points, fourteen rebounds, five assists for Leonard. He and the Raptors survive his seven turnovers out of the fourteen in the game that Toronto committed, and Toronto was able to do enough in the fourth quarter to pull this one out and send the series back to Toronto square at two games apiece. Toronto won the fourth quarter twenty

six to twenty one. The Raptors shot fifty percent in the fourth period while the seventy sixers made just five and they're twenty one shots, including three of fourteen from outside the arc. I thought a really big key to this series and you almost want, sorry not the series, but two tonight's game, and you almost wonder if this would have happened had it not been for Pascal Siakam not being at one percent. The tandem between Marcasol and Sergebaca gave the Raptors some size on the interior that

they really hadn't displayed. They hadn't gone with that pairing much, if at all, to the first three games of the series, and Toronto had just been crushed by the seventy Sixers on the glass in all three games, even game one the Sixers lost, and between Gasol and Abaca they were able to do some damage on the boards Toronto and the Sixers even on the rebounds overall each of forty three apiece and the Raptors outscoring the seventy Sixers by

two on second chance points. And then in the first half that Toronto was able to dial up its running game, they outscored the seventy Sixers seventeen to ten on fast break opportunities. Sixers did key in on that in the second half, but that was one of the things that helped Toronto get out to an early lead, in addition to their defense seventy sixers falling one on one ninety six.

Let us check in with the podium right now and see who is there if something like that were to happen, And as much as at least we stepped in and took shots tonight, I think I watched a whole bunch of ones that I'm gonna keep taking and we gotta we gotta make more of them. And there's a lot of naked threes out there that we didn't hit. And one of these days we just might coach Bryan Kaprowski from Hoopsite. You have, you know, two bigs who can

both stretch the floor with Surge and Mark. How much does that factor the decision to play them again together moving forward? Well, I think we probably look at it again just because it helped us on the rebounding um. It does help that they can both make them. It was nice to see Mark take them and make a couple and kind of keep taking them. Surge hopefully when we get back on our own floor'll get dialed in a little bit. He had a couple of threes that

he took. I mean, he's he can make those two and it'd be nice if he could throw one or two in a game too, because again, you know, the penetration by whoever is going to draw a lot of help, as it should, and those guys are kind of safety valves out behind the arc, and if they're all alone out there, we want them to step in and take them either one of them, yeah, seventy six, or was loose of the Toronto Raptors in game four. That was Nick Nurse, head coach of Toronto, which one today one

to ninety six. We're standing by and waiting for Brett Brown, who we expect to be at the postgame podium very shortly. Joel and Bead finished with eleven points, two made shots, seven to ten from the line, eight rebounds, seven assists, two big blocks on Sergebaka, two steals, but just did not seem like himself in today's game. And I would be stunned if this were not a matter brought up with Brett Brown after the game, and we might get some more insight onto what the situation with Joel was.

Just didn't seem as spry and fresh and sharp as he did in that magnificent performance. And he went for thirty three and ten plus five blocks in the game on Thursday here at the Center. So it's kind of like we're starting back at square one in this best seven series. Tied up at two apiece, Toronto has home court advantage back, with two of the final three being played at Scotia Bank Arena starting on Tuesday with Game five, as the Sixers look to a regroup and to take

control of this series once again. Here's Brett Brown at the podium, and we missed some free throws, and we missed some layups, and you give Toronto credit. Their defense went up a new new level. And it was a close out type of quarter fourth period to go win a game, and we went in there. I think it was seventy five seventy five at the end of the

third and we went into a drought. It was probably a six minute, six and a half minute drought that was littered with miss layups, miss free throws, some open threes, and sprinkled in with some turnovers. And I give Toronto credit. Brett Center, rond Hector Bso, you know, obviously with one day in between each game now the rest of the series, no one's really one hundred percent. Are you looking at anything differently with Joel playing minutes and are you going

to sort of structure that rotation going forward. I mean, it's really just driven out of his health. You know, I got a text from him at six twenty am this morning telling me like he didn't sleep all night. He'd really never felt this Polly, and he was unsure coach, if I'm gonna play, I just want to give you a heads up. I'll try lost some of the feed right there. Apologies about that. Literally, what happens is someone just yanks the chord for the audio out of our board,

and I'm sorry that happened. At a point, I'm sure a lot of people, if you're listening, you'd have loved to have heard the rest of that answer about the interaction between Joel Embiid and Brett Brown. We'll try to efforts more of the postgame press conference if we can, and certainly relay to any quotes that come from Brett

or players for what we can follow online. But we heard right there it sounded like there was an interaction earlier this more between Brett and Joel Embiid where Joel wasn't even certain if he was going to play in today's game. And no, he did not look right, certainly not the type of player we saw on Thursday. Eleven points, eight rebounds, did have the seven assists he was also, I mean, it's such an interesting thing depending on how

you like to look at your box scores. He was plus seventeen for the game in thirty five minutes, the most of any player for either the Sixers or the Raptors. But he did not seem to be the same player that we saw on Thursday. And as we found out just a moment ago, Brett Brown and part of that answer saying that Joel Embiid was not feeling well going into today's game. Didn't feel well last night and earlier

this morning. So the seventy Sixers lose to the Raptors one on one ninety six, we got a brand new series. Seventy six Ers have shown they can win in Toronto. They're gonna have to do it certainly come Tuesday night at Scotia Bank Arena, standing by with Tom mc guinnis. We'll talk a little bit more with him next seventy six Ers fall in game four one on one ninety six. Your home is important. That's why Geico helped make it easy to save on homeowner's insurance because home is more

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decision one one ninety sixty the Toronto Raptors. This best of seven second round matchup between the Atlantic Division foes. Now all even at two games a piece. I'm Brian Selzer, Tom mc ginnis rejoining us now. Jimmy Butler Tom twenty nine, eleven and four another great game from him. Kawhi Leonard, we know he's something special thirty nine and fourteen. He had help in this game, but when it was on the line, and maybe Toronto's season as well, there was

Kawhi doing his thing, no doubt about it. He drew fouls at the end. He made that timely three that you gave them the cushion. Danny sealed the deal with foul shots down the stretch and he was incredible once again with thirty nine points. He was the difference in this game. The fact that Ibaka had his best game in the series really at both ends of the court, not just scoring the ball with a dozen off their bench, but rebounding and then defensively doing a good job on

the beat. He was a big presence. Marc Gasol was good. I thought Kyle Lowry had a big impact early in the game. He could just see he was bound and determined to play better. At one stretch early in the game, he had five in a row. Brett Brown took a time out, the Sixers battled. They were right there. They had a chance. They really did. This is like you say, you hope they look back on this and they go, oh, wow,

we could have won that fourth game. But you know, if they don't, by some chance, if the Sixers don't win this series, they're really going to look back at this game because they could have won this game. It was hanging there in the balance. The Raptors led throughout much of the fourth quarter, but it was tied in eighty five and Leonard was too much down the stretch.

And again, when the game comes down to those five four or five minutes or so and it's tied, execution efficiency, all of those things are at a paramount, and the Sixers just did not have that down the stretch in this game that it cost them time. If you're right with it, I'm gonna throw it to Brett Brown. We might be repeating a portion of what we heard, but

this is courtesy of NBC Sports Philadelphia. After these six ers one one, ninety six, a loss, etc. To his complete credit, you know, he just kind of willed his way through it. And that's a circular way to answer you a question. When I get information on how healthy is, I can better tell you or answer you a question as it sits. I appreciate and respect his effort to get out there and play play for his team. Maybe it's in regards to that. I noticed Joel wasn't out

there for the anthems. Was he dealing with something at that point? And John, I don't I would expect that. I would come copletely expect that to be the reason, but I don't know that. And I saw him after the early dunk. It looked like he grimaced. Was it something with his knears backwards? Now it's it's it's a it's a virus. And you know, all during pregame film you can hear him sneezing and sneezing and sneezing, and you tried to ignore it and like just coached through

it and show the players the pregame tape. But I'd be lying if I were to tell you it wasn't completely on my mind as I'm talking to the team, showing the tape, listening and seeing him all right. That's courtesy of NBC Sports Philadelphia. Some of Brett Brown's postgame press conference addressing Joel Embiad situation as we bring back

Tom again us now Tom. It didn't look like Joel Embiad was right in this game, but Jimmy Butler listen, He to a certain degree put the seventy sixers on his back once again, and he delivered another strong showing. He had a double double. He's had four straight games at twenty points or more. He makes nine field goals,

makes three threes, eight free throws. He certainly did. He's been more of a primary ball handler for the Sixers in this series, playing a lot of pick and roll with mb but to your point of bad eleven points, eight rebounds, seven assists, so he did do a lot of other things besides scoring at the rate that we've become accustomed to during the season. He was just two of seven from the field, and no doubt you could

tell he was laboring. And now we hear from Brett Brown that he was under the weather during the course of the day and obviously in this game. And now the series shifts back to Toronto, and you know, they have the momentum that they're going home and they win this game, and they have to feel better about how

they played here in this game. And I think they found a little something, although they're still not getting a lot from their bench, but I think you can see a little bit more from Ibaka and for the Sixers, a low turnover game, they just didn't shoot the ball well and you have to be more efficient, certainly, you know in a home playoff game if you expect to win.

Then they were here today. As we heard during a portion of Nick Nurse, Toronto's head coach, his press conference, he said, maybe someday a few of these three point opportunities will go in for the Raptors. They were ten for thirty one in today's game. They entered for the

series under twenty nine percent. Among the adjustments tom that Toronto made, I'm not saying in any way it's not something the Sixers can address and figure out but I felt they went a little bit bigger at times between the front line of Abaca and Ghassol, and whether that was by deliberate intent or Siakam not being himself in this game, hey, that at least gave him a chance on the glass, because before today, in all three games, I would even say even Game one, the Sixers just

absolutely dominated on the backboards and that was a huge part of their Game two and Game three success for the Sixers, no doubt, and you know, part of their strategy. I mean, like they're big guys like Maranovitch has not been able to play in this series. And think about how efficient he's been for the Sixers. I mean, the guy gets you know, four out of five, five out of six, seven or eight rebounds. He's very efficient, and he's really been He's not even been in this series

at all. And that's due to the fact that Ibaka comes in the game and he's a more you know, athletic player who can play both inside it out and today was a big factor. So that that's part of it. And Greg Monroe, he certainly had a really good game in Game three. He certainly helped the Sixers in the game that they won before going out with that ankle, but today he was a non factor. So yeah, I mean, you know, their big gasol had his best game of

the series. But you know, again the style of play where they want to get out and run and get some easier baskets, that that's limited Boban in terms of Coach Brown being able to use him in the series. So they didn't make a lot of adjustments the one I thought they made, whereas they put Ibaka on Joel a little bit more. Siakam was clearly limited. He was two of ten, he had nine points, and you know, like there's two schools that thought. One is he has

another day or so to get ready. But on the other end, he just played in a game where I believe he played thirty minutes on you know, apparently a bit of a bruised calf or an injured calf or whatever ended up playing yet twenty nine minutes. I guess I should say. So that's the thing. I guess maybe it all for Toronto. It starts it ends with Leonard. I mean, Sixes have not been able to get a handle on him. I don't know quite frankly, anybody that will have a handle on him no matter what happens.

But thirty nine again here, He's been a dominant player in the series and he he was the big difference in this game as well. Tom aginnis, we'll do it again Tuesday night, eight o'clock Eastern. That's when you hit the air for game at five. It's Scosia Baccarina, Good night,

Thank you. Seventy six Ers losing Game four the Eastern Conference semi Finals one on one to ninety six twenty nine eleven and four from Jimmy Butler thirty nine points, fourteen rebounds, five assists, and a key fourth quarter performance from Kawhi Leonard sparking Toronto to this win to even the series. There was a tough loss for the Sixers. There were some highlights, as there always are when you've got Tom McGinnis on the microphone, and we'll play back

a few of them next that's coming up. They always told Will he was too short to play basketball, but Will never listened. We'll let his work ethic do the talking for him. Always in the gym, always running drills. Will knew where there was a will, there was a way, and he was Will. But then after a second child was born. He realized the pros were all way better than him, so Will gave up and buried his high

tops in a cheerful ceremony. But one day he heard that Geico could save him money on car insurance, so he switched and saved a bunch, which was awesome. Seventy Sixers and the Toronto Raptors. A chance for the seventy Sixers today to push the Raptors the brink of elimination going into Tuesday's Game five. Instead, we got a brand new series, all square two games apiece after Toronto's one O one ninety six victory today. Down here at the center,

I'm Brian seltered. Tom mc ginnis called the game. Let us get to some of those highlights right now. First quarter, you could tell right away that the Raptors had come out with renewed defense intensity. Still, the seventy Sixers got an early lead, but then a thirteen nothing run by the Raptors gave them control. Jimmy Butler helped the seventy Sixers play ketchup late in the first fifty seconds to go six and fall. Butler gets positions, he goes in on the call and it's in and then Butler knocked

out by Siaka. So these Sixers get the field goal good beat by Joel twenty four twenty one Toronto, And that was how the first quarter came to a close. In the second, the seventy sixers trying to make some more inroads on the Raptors. They widen the gap to as much as nine. But in the early stages of the second Joel Ebad he'll make it a one point game, and it's with it bakes the three. Everybody beyond the yard for the Sixers get it beat inside. He sets

a high screen. Now rolls catches your little name, goes up and hammers it is Joel and beat two hands slam. That is Nick n Roll. When the thunderous, one of just two buckets on the day for Joel, thirty one thirty was the score. Then the Raptors went on that run, but Joel Embiad was using his defense until the seventy

Sixers get right back in it. In the Nanny Baka goes up Joel a bead block Sergey Baka in a big way down goes Abaca sicked his ball too a trail into bead in on Kauahi fakes back to Ben add a slam Ben seventh with a two hands up one of Jimmy Butler's three pointers made it a two point game. Raptors in front forty seven forty five at

the break. In the third quarter of the Sixers got off to a really strong start thanks to that man mister buckets Butler for three hihoneer hen in Jimmy Butler with a second train outside right pull up manns he get lipped on that ja five point lad for Philadelphia. Fifty seven to fifty two was the score. In the seventy Sixers were playing pretty well down the stretch of the third two JJ win to Tobias Harris will shoot at three in in or that Tobias Harris knocking down

a triple. Sixers lead seventy five seventy three, but moments later Sergeonbaka tied it up at seventy five going into the fourth quarter. So how about that for a lay of the land from a storyline standpoint tie game, seventy Sixers leading the series two games to one. What's with the Toronto Raptors have in store? I don't know the Sixers. They had the momentum early in the fourth thanks for Jimmy Butler once again, Butler with it. He's been brilliant

on Lowry's got a rise up. He hasn't knocked away, ain't a backshoot at death, Braason three heavy Bacon in Shimmy Father Lucky and good eighty four eighty one. That might have been Jimmy and his most brilliant today. An incredible shot. But after that, Marcus All would hit a time three pointer. He had some big buckets in this game, and of course so too did Kawhi Leonard. That started to string of free throws made by Kawhi Leonard getting

the line. Joel Embiid went o for two from the stripe, part of a one for four stretch from the line with five and a half minutes to go, sprinkling some miss threes and some turnovers, and the Toronto Raptors had new life. Leonard by the wing. We'll jumping on Jimmy Butler and its Simmons started on him, and beat came over, and then Butler came there and Kawhi Leonard scores the ball.

He has thirty four points in the game. He's been over thirty in each of these games and made a ninety one to big your pardon eighty nine to eighty five, and Leonard was not done his evidence by this clutch three pointer one oh five to go, Leonard on the move, Leonard on the lie, three seconds on the shot clock, Leonard guarded by a bad backs up buyers for three head in Kawhi. Leonard with an FBP type plans big

type preak. Some free throws after that for the Raptors, following another miss three pointer by the seventy sixers, put them in position to win the game, which they did. One one ninety six Sixers held to forty percent shooting Raptors. They shot fifty percent in the fourth quarter to get to forty six percent for the game. Ten for thirty one were the Raptors from three. Seventy sixers were twelve of thirty eight, both teams right around thirty one thirty

two percent. The Raptors, though, held the seventy sixers in check, going two for thirteen from three in the fourth quarter. Teams even on the glass forty three apiece thirteen turnovers by the seventy six ers, fourteen by the Raptors, but a couple of costly ones down the stretch by the Sixers in the guts of the fourth quarter. Kawhi Leonard thirty nine points, fourteen rebounds, five assists, Kyle Lowry fourteen points,

six rebounds, seven dimes and just one turnover. Marcusoul his best game of the series sixteen points, five rebounds, three assists, and then Sergebaca off the bench with a dozen. He also had nine rebounds. He was a key presence in

this game. Finally given the Raptors. Something off the bench for the seventy six ers should be Butler twenty nine and eleven, his fourth career postseason double double, his second of this year's playoffs, sixteen points for to buy his Harris with six rebounds and four assists, to go with three steals eleven for dwell and bat two of seven overall from the field, seven to ten from the line,

eight rebounds, seven assists, and two steals. If you joined us late Brett Brown disclosing during his postgame press conference, dwell and Beat texted him earlier this morning saying he wasn't feeling well, wasn't sure if he'd even be able to play in the game. I guess that does explain a little bit of why Joel Embiid kind of had the type of afternoon that he did not what we

saw in Thursday's game for sure. JJ Reddick was big nineteen points, four seven from three, six and nine overall, ten points for Ben Simmons, five rebounds, four assists for Simmons, and nine for James Ennis off the bench to go with five boards, seventy six and the Raptors all even at two games a piece. Game five will be in Toronto on Tuesday at eight o'clock. We'll start off with some pregame coverage seven fifty, then Tom McGinnis we'll bring

you all the actions, starting straight up at eights. You've been listening to a playoff edition of seventy six Ers rewind presented by Geico. Be sure not to miss new episodes following each game of the postseason