Toronto Raptors: 3 takeaways from dominant Game 5 win vs. 76ers

1. Winning by committee

The Toronto Raptors had, as mentioned, one of the best postseason performances in franchise history. It was their largest margin of victory (+36) in a playoff game and they are one win away from reaching the Eastern Conference Finals for the second time ever.

Making history aside, Tuesday night was a coming-out party of sorts for some members of the Toronto Raptors. Their bench outproduced the Sixers’ bench, 32-29. Fred VanVleet made his first bucket in the series. Serge Ibaka, despite getting a huge bump in the middle of his forehead via Kawhi’s accidental elbow, produced another efficient game with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting. He was effective boxing-out on both ends and setting screens for his teammates.

It was the starting unit that had the biggest impact in the game. Siakam was dealing with a calf contusion prior to Game 4, battled through it and played, but visibly struggled. In Game 5, he was aggressive out of the gate, and despite struggling to get buckets to fall, his relentlessness never faltered. It was his motor and aggressiveness that elevated his teammates and added energy into the arena. He finished with 25 points, added eight rebounds, two from deep, two steals and a monstrous block.

I mentioned in the Game 4 takeaways that the team “rides or dies” with Kyle Lowry. When Lowry produces 10-plus points, five or more rebounds and five or more assists, the team wins. Game 5 was no exception to that rule.

In Toronto’s three wins in this series, Lowry has averaged 17.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game. His production on both ends of the floor — controlling the tempo, playmaking, shot creating, deflections, forcing turnovers and his hustle for loose balls — impacts winning. Marc Gasol was great again, containing Embiid and holding him to 13 points while contributing 11 points of his own, including 3-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc.

The Raptors’ starters are advanced statistics darlings this postseason. Per Basketball-Reference, each member of the starting unit is in the top five for defensive win shares. Among five-player lineups with a minimum of 100 minutes played together, they are second in Player Estimated Impact (PIE) at 63.6. They hold the highest true shooting percentage at 63.2 percent, lowest team turnover ratio, 0.1, best offensive rating of 123.3 and second-best defensive rating of 95.7.

A lot of these measures are a result of Kawhi Leonard’s amazing play, but when this team plays cohesively together, it is one of the best in the league. After a dominant win in a pivotal Game 5, the Toronto Raptors showed the everyone how scary of an opponent they truly can be.