The 76ers Beat the Raptors playing as if it was 1999

TORONTO – Is it possible for a team to make a provocative and bold statement without scoring goals in N.B.A. In 2019? The Philadelphia 76ers, a team that appeared to be struggling to protect themselves from the Toronto Raptors in the opening game of their Eastern Conference semi-finals, would like a word, or even a time machine, to consult the gods basketball yesterday. And that word they might like to "survive. "

The Sixers won an even-round series Monday night at Scotiabank Arena, 94-89. They did it with just one of their stars playing well in an arena where Philadelphia had not won since 2012. No team scored 100 points, a rarity. in the intense, three – point style of play without a heartbeat of today. In the first round of N.B.A. playoffs, both teams have scored less than 100 only twice in 36 games. During the regular season, the worst offensive team in the league, the Memphis Grizzlies, averaged more than 103.

"When you reduce your rotations, it's naïve to think that you're going to play a game like a track competition when it's a hand-to-hand fight. It's a game, "said Brett Brown, Sixers coach after the game.

Grind? Sure. Fighting with fists? The bring on. But this one was a slog. The Sixers played as if they were hooked to their basketball lives. The second match could have satisfied the nostalgic fans of N.B.A. in the 2000s, when the turtle was favored over the hare and "SportsCenter" was filled with 18-foot bank shots from Tim Duncan. Philadelphia won despite a touch of less than 40% of the field, but this style of play could also be the way it advances to the next round: pure survival. On paper, the Raptors form a deeper and more talented team. For the Sixers: slow and steady wins the race.

Of course, in the playoffs, the bench players remain more on the bench. The games slow down. The teams ask the elite players, who are kept during the regular season, to play more minutes against the best defenses of the best units.

But Philadelphia's first star was limited in the second game: Joel Embiid, the center of the franchise, was a gaming decision because of a gastroenteritis (he described it in a more familiar fashion when from the post-match press conference, but added that there was no doubt was playing.). Embiid had a hard time winning the match, scoring 2 of 7 on the field with six turnovers and scoring just 12 points. (One of those two shots sealed Philadelphia's victory: a superb rotation and a counterfeit under the basket that put it 3 at the end of the fourth.)

But another step back helped Embiid catch up: heavy reinforcement Greg Monroe. Conventional wisdom tells us that the game has surpassed him and that Monroe belongs to the 2000s. He has slow feet, a generally poor defender and makes a living in painting instead of being able to stretch the ground steadily with shots of fire. That's one reason he's playing for his third team this season (all three play in the Eastern Conference semifinals, including the Raptors and the Boston Celtics).

Nicknamed "Moose", he rose from N.B.A. entrance to the companion in the uncertain home. Monroe came in and scored 10 points on seven throws and picked up five rebounds in 12 minutes. Many of his arguments were simply intimidating the defenders near the basket. The Raptors tried to attack it defensively several times with faster guards like Danny Green and Kyle Lowry. They missed. Monroe moved his feet just fast enough to disrupt their movement, helping Philadelphia build a 19-point lead in the first period. It was the rare night when Monroe was the best center of the team.

"Entering Greg was going to be like an instinct that I had and I thought it was great," Brown said.

But the Raptors would not fall asleep without fighting. This is not unusual, of course: Toronto has Kawhi Leonard, arguably the best player in the Eastern Conference.

In a post-season where Damian Lillard of the Portland Trailblazers took a step back breathtaking, then dismissed the Thunder from Oklahoma City, and Kevin "You know who I am" Durant is on his own scorching run, Leonard has methodically and quietly destroys his opponents. The 76ers did not have an answer for the reserved player Leonard, while their own blue shredders failed collectively.

N.B.A. The increase in popularity over the last decade can be explained in part by its virality: the strengths of posters and broken ankles are spreading at any time. Coaches and players go to great lengths to follow their colleagues on social media. Not Leonard, however, who has so far fled the limelight that this in itself has become a worthy element to be mentioned on bulletin boards.

In the second game, Leonard lost 35 points on 24 shots, almost saving Toronto alone from a loss. His production was only slightly less dominant than in the first game of the series, while the Sixers might have been better off not to defend it at all: 45 points on 23 shots. Monday was the eleventh time Leonard scored 30 points or more in a playoff game.

But Philadelphia held up well, even after the Raptors had reduced the game to a fourth-quarter possession, thanks to a star-studded performance: Jimmy Butler, a fierce player who's also a comeback, usually boasting of the first pointer available at 3, having only launched 2.7 a game for his career.

To put this in perspective, James Harden of Houston Rockets, who led the league in scoring this year, averaged over 13 attempts of three points per game. On Monday night, Butler scored 30 points and scored four from afar, adding 11 rebounds and five assists in 43 minutes.

"Jimmy Butler is a player," said coach Nick Nurse of the Raptors. "He was not going to be silent all this series. Right? This guy can play. We know that."

Or as Brown said: "It was James Butler. It was the adult's gym. (Butler later clarified that he was calling Jimmy and made it clear that this had always been the case.)

Now the series is moving to Philadelphia, and maybe the Sixers have found a way to fight a favorite team with more weapons: slow down the game and, to use the old sports shot, grind it. They certainly have the tools to do it, with Embiid and a Monroe resurrected on their land. Embiid, usually a brilliant footwork in the post, will likely have to overcome his knee (and stomach) problems for Philadelphia to have a chance to succeed.

But so far, the Sixers, by dividing the first two games on the road, did what they had to do: they survived.