It wasn’t Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. It wasn’t even a series-deciding victory. But Joel Embiid – the only rightful contender for MVP – did get a bit of revenge on the Toronto Raptors.
Embiid buried a fadeaway 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds to go in overtime of Game 3 on Wednesday night to give the Sixers a 104-101 win. Curtains. Lights out. Game over. Philadelphia now has a 3-0 stranglehold lead in their first-round playoff matchup. Game 4 is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
Sixers win. This Toronto crowd is silent and stunned.
Sixers go for the sweep Saturday afternoon.
The 7-footer drilled the game-winner through what appeared to be the same basket where Kawhi Leonard ripped everyone’s hearts out back in 2019. The scene was poetic justice for the Sixers, especially since Tyrese Maxey had talked about watching the Leonard shot after Wednesday’s shootaround.
Tyrese Maxey said he was watching Sixers-Raptors in 2019 as a senior in high school. Says he remembered watching Kawhi Leonard’s shot and the aftermath of it, and that he saw how much winning meant to Joel Embiid.
Embiid finished the contest with 33 points and 13 rebounds in 44 minutes. He scored 28 of those points in the second half and overtime after a sluggish start. In the end, it was Embiid’s movie – and he was The Greatest Showman.
JOEL EMBIID FOR THE FREAKIN WINNNNNNN
Doc Rivers was heard shouting “dig it out” in the hallway outside the Sixers’ locker room after Embiid’s miracle shot went in. That was the team’s mantra throughout the game.
“That was my mantra all game, like you could see it early this is going to be a nasty, tight game and just hang in there and dig it out,” Rivers said. “We said it 100 times, just dig it out, just dig this game out. And I told them, I don’t know how we’re going to do that but we’re going to do it. And they hung in there.”
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Sixers Twitter Erupts After Game 3 Win
Sixers fans were on the edge of their seats for most of Game 3. Philadelphia trailed for the majority of the contest and didn’t take their first lead until Tyrese Maxey hit a jumper with 3:27 left in overtime to make it 99-97.
Their largest lead was three points, courtesy of that 27-foot triple from Embiid at the buzzer. Twitter was abuzz with excitement.
Tyrese Maxey’s reaction to the Embiid shot is all of us 😅😅😅
StatMuse called Embiid “Shaq with a three-point shot” while Darius Slay said: “That’s mvp shit right there embiid.”
Embiid hit the game-winner despite hearing obnoxious “F*** Embiid” chants from Raptors fans all night. Some of them showed up wearing referee uniforms with Embiid’s name printed on the back. Others just booed. And famed Toronto rapper Drake just sat there dazed and confused.
What’s Drake doing here? 😂
The MVP votes were tallied before the postseason started so all those national writers who pledged their allegiance to Nikola Jokic are going to have a lot of explaining to do.
It’s going to look EXTREMELY bad for all the People that voted Jokic for MVP! I’m just glad I made the right decision and penciled in Embiid even if he don’t win it… he’s showed us that he’s the REAL MVP! Carry the hell…
Embiid is averaging 27.7 points and 13.0 rebounds per game in three playoff games. Everyone that didn’t know before, they know now.
I’m sorry, I’ll take Embiid over Jokic any day or night or overtime.
Sixers Not Resting on Their Laurels
Rivers was quick to remind his team that they haven’t accomplished anything yet. They still need one more victory to move onto to the next round. He said it before Embiid’s incredible buzzer-beater in Game 3, then reiterated it again in the post-game press conference.
Doc Rivers immediately postgame:
“That was a hell of a win. We didn’t play great, honestly.
Then the last play – they ran it right. Good win for us. We’ll take it.”
“The key is to win the series, not to win two games,” Rivers said prior to Game 3. “We’ve accomplished nothing as far as we’re concerned. We know we can play better.”
Game-winner dari @JoelEmbiid di Game ke-3 melawan Raptors🔥
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Sixers Twitter Erupts After Joel Embiid Exorcises Ghost of Kawhi Leonard