If Game 4 was a euphoric celebration for the Toronto Raptors, Game 5 felt like an affirmation.
Don’t look now, but the Raptors are figuring out the style of play that could win them this series. Meanwhile, the Sixers — once up 3-0 and in a euphoria of their own — have good reason to start sweating.
Facing elimination at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday, the Raptors did what can best be classified as “smacked the Sixers in the mouth”. They out-scored Philly 56-36 in the paint, exhausted Joel Embiid and James Harden by involving them in almost every offensive possession, and held a once-blistering Sixers offense to 88 points on 38 percent shooting with rabid, intense defensive pressure.