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Raptors made Sixers pay from three-point range in Game 5 of NBA playoff series

On Tuesday night, Danny Green and Marc Gasol heated up from three-point range, dooming the Sixers in the consequential Game 5.

After a 3-pointer by Danny Green, center, Raptor fans and players celebrate during the 2nd half of their NBA Eastern Conference semifinal game at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on May 7, 2019.
After a 3-pointer by Danny Green, center, Raptor fans and players celebrate during the 2nd half of their NBA Eastern Conference semifinal game at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on May 7, 2019.Read moreCHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

TORONTO — Nearly every time Brett Brown has spoken with the media during this series he has made a point to make sure that everyone knows that the Raptors were the league’s best three-point shooting team following the Feb. 7 trade deadline.

It’s been a warning after every practice, before every game, after every game; the Raptors have the firepower to destroy teams from deep.

It was only a matter of time before Danny Green and Marc Gasol joined the fray and started hitting.

“The three-point shot was punishing tonight,” Brown said.

Green, who is a career 40.4 percent shooter from three-point range, and shot a staggering 45.5 percent from three this season, had hit just 31.6 percent of his long balls in the first four games against the 76ers. On Tuesday night at Scotiabank Arena Green went 5-of-7 from deep and finished with 17 points.

Gasol was one of the best three-point shooting center in the league this season among big men who have at least two three-point attempts per game. He went 2-of-7 on Sunday after not hitting a single trey in the Raptors Game 3 loss. In Game 5 Gasol finished with 11 points, going 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.

“Everyone got a little bit of rhythm into their flow, into their shot,” Green said after the game. “Finally good to see some go in. Hopefully it carries over.”

It definitely helped the Raptors that the Sixers’ defensive performance on Monday was their worst of the playoffs and maybe even the season but it was also Kawhi Leonard’s least efficient game of this series. Leonard went 0-of-4 from three and finished with 21 points, a quiet night from what has become the norm for Leonard.

That Leonard was a smidgen off made it even more important for the Raptors to push the ball and make the Sixers pay in transition, and pay they did.

“If you go back and dissect the game you’re going to see a lot of those threes came in transition,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said. “That number of points in transition, 33, then you look at 31 points off turnovers, that is haunting. You cannot win with those types of numbers.”

With every turnover and every missed shot, it seemed like a little more air was taken out of the Sixers’ sails and that the Raptors were feeding off every moment.

“We made some tonight and that really fuels you,” Toronto coach Nick Nurse said. “A few of them went up tonight and I thought the defensive end kept ticking upwards.”

The Raptors finished the night shooting 40 percent overall from three, fueling them to a 125-89 absolute bludgeoning win over the Sixers, taking a 3-2 series lead.

The Sixers, who have prided themselves on being a good three-point defensive team, let the wheels fall off on Tuesday and the Raptors were ready to strike. The series heads back to Philadelphia with Game 6 on Thursday and, if needed, a Game 7 in Toronto on Sunday.

The Raptors are a team that thrives on rhythm, and now that they have a rhythm from beyond the arc, it’s going to take even more of an effort to stop them.