NBA Playoffs 2018-19: 3 Talking Points from Philadelphia 76ers vs Toronto Raptors - Game 5

The Philadelphia 76ers travelled to the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto to face the Toronto Raptors in a tough road game for them.

The series was tied at 2-2 coming out of Philadelphia and Game 5 was going to be a game of immense proportions, and would also give us a clear leader in the tied series.

The other series tied at 2-2 is the huge match-up between the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets.

The Raptors absolutely blew away the 76ers in a superb display at home, winning the game by 36 points, 125-89. Let us take a look at 3 talking points from this match.

#3 The supporting cast of the Toronto Raptors comes good

Toronto Raptors had a great game from their bench in Game Five

All series long, the Raptors bench and their supporting cast around Kawhi Leonard had been heavily criticised.

The bench has been atrocious through the playoffs, and have had negligible or almost no impact on the games.

Tonight was different, with the team around Kawhi Leonard finally came together and blossomed into the juggernaut they were supposed it be.

They established a strangle-hold on the 76ers throughout the game and did not let them gain a foothold during the match.

Pascal Siakam led the team, scoring a game high 25 points today, with Kyle Lowry also chipping in with 19 points.

Danny Green and Marc Gasol had good games too, scoring 17 and 11 points respectively, while Serge Ibaka had 10 points off the bench.

Kawhi was once again his dominant self but could manage only 21 points due to some inefficient shooting from the field.

The Raptors were great tonight and have taken a 3-2 lead in the series. They will be hoping that their other players can keep their scoring streak going.

#2 The Philadelphia 76ers could not score to save their lives

Philadelphia 76ers were torrid tonight

The Philadelphia 76ers were coming into this game with a head of steam and in with a shout as the series was tied at 2-2.

But some poor performances from their star players resulted in a thrashing. They were blown off the court in a 89-125 loss at Toronto.

None of their stars showed up tonight. Their main man Joel Embiid, who has been looking out of sorts all throughout the series, was horrible tonight too. He could manage only 13 points in 31 minutes and had a massive 8 turnovers.

Ben Simmons was also underwhelming tonight, managing just 7 points and had himself 5 turnovers, while JJ Redick was just atrocious, managing to score 1 shot from the field in 31 minutes.

Jimmy Butler was their saving grace tonight, scoring 22 points in 30 minutes, while Tobias Harris scored 15 points off 50% shooting. Mike Scott was the only bench player to reach double digits, scoring 10.

#1 Kawhi Leonard has been one of the best players in the 2018-19 playoffs

Toronto Raptors have been carried by Kawhi in the playoffs

Kawhi Leonard was a question mark coming into this season, after being traded by San Antonio Spurs. He slowly got back into gear and re-established himself as a top 5 player in the league.

With playoffs here and the Raptors having a terrible history in them, Kawhi has single handedly decided to change it for the Raptors, and has been a monster.

He has been duelling with Kevin Durant for the title of best player in the playoffs and has put his best foot forward in both the series.

He is currently averaging a mammoth 34.6 points in this series, along with 9.8 rebounds and has shot an efficient 58.3% from the field.

With Kawhi enjoying such form, the Raptors need to rally around him in order to beat Philadelphia to move to their first conference finals since 2015-16.