Philadelphia takes on Toronto in Game 3 of their NBA Playoffs series

Ben Simmons has been branded the “invisible” man after he completely disappeared as his team’s playoffs campaign fell off the rails.

It’s on.

The 76ers have surrendered home court advantage as Toronto prevailed to even their eastern conference playoffs series with a 101-96 win in Philadelphia on Monday morning.
The Sixers were again haunted by the brilliance of Raptors star Kawhi Leonard, who again put up huge numbers to push his team to a five-point win.

The Sixers led 84-81 mid-way through the final quarter, but when the game was on the line it was Leonard who stepped up to snatch the win. He finished with 39 points and 14 rebounds.

Aussie Ben Simmons’ off-night summed up his team’s struggles.

The Sixers were -16 while the star guard was on the court and he clearly went back into his shell with the game on the line in the second half.

He finished with just 10 points, five rebounds and four assists.

He also missed both of his free-throw attempts, prompting concern about his ability to deal with the pressure of big-time basketball.

His failure to take the game on was one of the big talking points from the limp defeat along with star centre Joel Embiid's poor night at the office.
Embiid had just 11 points — his lowest personal haul in a playoffs game.

The best player of the series and Ben Simmons.

76ers coach Brett Brown said after the game Embiid had texted him at 6.20am (local time) to say he was battling a virus and “hadn’t ever felt so poorly” ahead of the game. He also said Embiid claimed he had barely slept the night before the game.

Brown said he didn’t expect Embiid to play. The All-Star went on to play a full 35 minutes, despite visibly struggling to find his regular-silky touch.

It was a dramatically different performance from the Sixers’ emphatic Game 3 win, where Philadelphia had appeared to land a telling blow in the hard-fought series.

Instead Toronto showed what they were made of, downing the Sixers on the road for the first time this series.

Simmons was branded “invisible” by some NBA commentators with his fourth quarter effort of just two points labled “not good enough” in the eyes of Sixers commentators.

As always, Ben Simmons is Philadelphia's bellwether. If he's good to great, they win. If he's not, they lose. And when he's not, he's just kind of invisible. This was not his afternoon today. An 8/5/4 line in 38 minutes simply isn't good enough.

— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) May 5, 2019

Legit forgot Ben Simmons was playing in this game. Not even saying he was bad, just do not recall noticing him once in the entire second half.

— Ben Dowsett (@Ben_Dowsett) May 5, 2019

That’s Simmons only two points of the entire 4th quarter... just two points!!! pic.twitter.com/pPxvVCm1WS

— Derrick Gunn (@RealDGunnNBCS) May 5, 2019

Does Ben Simmons have the largest deviation between his good and bad performances of any All-Star caliber player?

— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) May 5, 2019

Ben Simmons is intriguing but until he can shoot it or get to the paint to score he will have limited impact in terms of leading a team to a championship. He has a lot of tools but limits himself and at timea@is a tease. @NBA

— Seth Greenberg (@SethOnHoops) May 5, 2019

Joel Embiid with ONLY 9 points - would be LOWEST scoring playoff game of his career

Embiid and Ben Simmons have COMBINED for ONLY 17@6abc

— Jeff Skversky 6abc (@JeffSkversky) May 5, 2019

Leonard, meanwhile, has simply made a mockery of Brown’s declaration that Embiid has been the best player in the series so far.

Embiid was unstoppable in Game 3, but Leonard responded by tormenting the Sixers in Game 4 — especially when the game was on the line in the second half.

After losing back-to-back games, Leonard said the Raptors’ mindset was to “come in and play hard”.

“The whole team concept was coming in and playing harder, being smarter and take your shots,” Leonard said.

“We needed it. This is a big win, but we’ve got to come back and get it for game five.” Leonard scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a first half that finished with the Raptors holding a narrow 47-45 lead.

It was the first time in his career that he notched at least 15 points and 10 rebounds in a half.

After seven lead changes in the third quarter, the increasingly physical encounter was tied 75-75 heading into the fourth.

The Raptors were clinging to a 91-90 lead when Leonard drained a step-back three-pointer over a reaching Embiid with 1:01 left to play.

It put Toronto up 94-90 and the 76ers wouldn’t get the gap below four points from there.

Kawhi Leonard in this series:

G4: 39-14-5, 65% FG
G3: 33-4-3, 61% FG
G2: 35-7-6, 71% FG
G1: 45-11-2, 81% FG

— Josh Eberley 🇨🇦 (@JoshEberley) May 5, 2019

Leonard was supported well by Marc Gasol (16 points), Kyle Lowry (14), Serge Ibaka (12) and Danny Green (11), who all made it to double-figures.

Jimmy Butler led the 76ers with 29 points and 11 rebounds, while JJ Redick had 19 points.

Tobias Harris shot just seven of 23 and finished with 16 points.

The Raptors now head back home for Game 5, only needing to win their two remaining games at home to move through to the eastern conference finals.

— with AFP

Originally published as Philadelphia takes on Toronto in Game 3 of their NBA Playoffs series