Kawhi Leonard dominated Game 4 with 39 points, 14 rebounds and five assists in nearly 43 minutes.Chris Szagola/The Associated Press
Kawhi Leonard’s play declared it loudly on Sunday: This playoff series is far from over.
Three days after suffering a soul-crushing beat-down in Game 3, the Toronto Raptors earned a 101-96 bounce-back road win over the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 4 to knot their series 2-2, behind another MVP-calibre performance from their superstar.
Leonard rollicked for 39 points, 14 rebounds and five assists in nearly 43 minutes. He had five three-pointers, including a step-back dagger in the last minute that helped seal the victory.
Marc Gasol had 16 points – including a pair of threes – while Kyle Lowry rebounded from a rough Game 3 showing with 14 points and seven assists. Serge Ibaka, the only bench player to log significant minutes, had 12 points and nine rebounds.
“It was a good win for us. It was a stepping stone. [We’ve] got to build off it though,” Lowry said. “We can’t be satisfied with it.”
The Raps won despite a sub-par day from their rising star Pascal Siakam, who a day earlier was listed as doubtful with a right calf contusion. He played through it, adding six points on 2-of-10 shooting in 28 minutes.
Jimmy Butler lead the way for Philadelphia with 29 points and 11 rebounds, while J.J. Redick had 19 points and Tobias Harris had 16. Sixers big man Joel Embiid – who had absolutely dominated in Game 3 – settled for 11 points and eight boards Sunday after a sleepless night spent vomiting and dealing with an illness. He had texted his coach at 6:20 a.m saying he was unsure he could play, but he did.
On Saturday, the Raptors had created dramatic news by proclaiming Siakam “doubtful” for Game 4 with a right calf contusion. As the hours ticked away to game time, Siakam surfaced to take practice shots, as media crowded around to scrutinize the leading candidate for the NBA’s most-improved-player award.
Siakam was in Sunday’s starting lineup, scored his team’s opening free throws, but struggled from there.
Nurse scaled back the minutes for most of his bench guys Sunday in this critical game. He leaned mostly on his five starters, plus Ibaka, with some small spot duty for Norm Powell, Fred VanVleet and Patrick McCaw.
The crowd got amped up as a series of Philly sports celebs in the crowd were flashed on the videoboard, from Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz to NBA legend Julius Erving, and retired NFL star Terrell Owens, who delighted by flapping his arms like a bird.
The Raps were getting stops, but struggling to hit their own shots much of the night. Toronto – the NBA’s top three-point-shooting team in the second half of the season – made a concerning 10-of-31 from beyond the arc, many of them uncontested.
“There were a lot of naked threes out there we didn’t make,” Nurse said.
The Raps used Gasol and Ibaka together at times, and it shored up Toronto’s rebounding problems so evident in the first three games of the series. This time, the Raptors drew even on the boards, 43-43.
Siakam’s first field goal of the game didn’t fall until eight minutes into the third, as he turned a crafty pass from Lowry under the bucket into a dunk. He played 28 minutes, and lacked much of the athleticism he typically uses to dominate.
Leonard exploded for a 14-point third quarter, as the two teams went bucket for bucket, with Butler and Harris rolling for Philly. The two teams were tied 75-75 going into a final tense quarter.
The Raps rested Leonard for the opening two minutes of the fourth – as Toronto surely held its breath hoping the team could avoid a collapse with the star taking a breather. He quickly returned and played out the quarter.
It was a symphony of noise down the stretch, with Redick and Butler igniting the crowd’s cheers with huge jumpers, then Leonard making them groan with his. His 26-foot step-back jumper over Embiid with 1:01 left on the clock was perhaps the toughest shot he took all night, and it put the Raps up by four at a crucial time.
“I just took a shot and believed it would go in,” Leonard said. “And it did.”
Game 5 is set for Tuesday night at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, with Game 6 Thursday in Philadelphia, and a potential Game 7 next Sunday in Toronto.