James Harden, Sixers discuss their 2nd half success to finish Raptors

TORONTO–The Philadelphia 76ers were able to finish off the Toronto Raptors on Thursday by a score of 132-97 as they are now able to move on to Round 2 and prepare for the Miami Heat.

The Sixers were able to have success out on the floor in the second half as they outscored Toronto 37-17 in the third quarter and then 33-19 in the fourth quarter. Philadelphia led by one at halftime before they really broke the game open.

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Toronto stayed in it at halftime as they took 50 shots compared to 39 for the Sixers and they collected 10 offensive rebounds. They just simply played Raptors basketball before the Sixers broke the game open in the second half.

“I just thought we played so well in the first half,” said coach Doc Rivers. “I thought they hit us with every shot. They really did in the first half. What did they have, 11 or 12 more shots than us, 10 offensive rebounds, but I just thought we never wavered. I told our guys I think it was the most serious game we played this year. Just no messing around. I thought we came with a great intent and that’s a lesson.”

The Sixers got big games out of Joel Embiid, James Harden, and Tyrese Maxey to get the job done. Embiid had 33 and 13 rebounds, Harden added 22 and 15 assists, and Maxey had 25 and eight assists. The three of them set the tone from the jump and they continued it after halftime.

“I think defensively, we were in a lot of zone,” said Harden. “We did a really good job. The only thing problem was offensive rebounding. They had, I don’t know the exact number, but they had too many points off of offensive rebounds. We wanted to control that, limit them to one shot, and gang rebound. That third quarter was a prime example of how good we can be if we do that.”

Despite the success of the Raptors in the first half, Harden was confident that he and the Sixers would get the job done late in the game.

“I think defensively, we came out with a great mindset to slow them down,” he said. “Obviously, they shot the ball extremely well in the first half, but we knew the entire four-quarter game, if we had that mindset defensively and be engaged and rebound the basketball, we had a good chance of winning.”

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