Jimmy Butler’s redemption, Sixers adjustments vs. Raptors prove they can win it all | Marcus Hayes

TORONTO — Now, anything is possible.

It is the mark of a well-coached team destined for playoff success to quickly adjust its strategy and to implement changes quickly and effectively. That is what the Sixers are, now, after a 94-89 Game 2 win over the Raptors.

Cohesive. Confident. Smart. Deep.

They have become the team coach Brett Brown and general manager Elton Brand envisioned them becoming when they added Jimmy Butler in November and traded for depth in February.

When the Sixers lost Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal Saturday, they were none of those things. They never seemed to have a chance to win. Then, on Sunday, Brown changed the team’s identity overnight.

He used bold defensive assignments and schemes; center Joel Embiid on forward Pascal Siakam, point guard Ben Simmons on all-world forward Kawhi Leonard.

“A good game-plan adjustment by them,” said Philly native Kyle Lowry, the Raptors’ point guard.

Whose idea?

“A collaborative decision,” Brown said as he made his way to the locker room, smiling.

OK. So, his idea.

With Embiid diminished by illness — before the game he mainlined IVs, not his preferred Shirley Temples — Brown featured Butler, who was largely absent in Game 1. On Monday, Butler scored 30 and held off the Raptors by himself, with 12 points in the fourth quarter. This wasn’t Jimmy Butler, or Jimmy Buckets.

“That was JAMES Butler. That was the adult in the gym. He was a tremendous rock," Brown said.

“He was a stud.”

“Everybody told me to come out aggressive,” said Butler, who pretended to bristle at Brown’s inaccuracy: “My name isn’t James. It’s, literally, Jimmy.”

OK. Jimmy led, and the Sixers followed, with purpose and with energy. They looked like a contender. Like they could beat any team that remains in the Eastern Conference.

Anybody in the league.

They looked like they haven’t looked since 2003, when they lost in this round; maybe since 2001, when Allen Iverson took them to the NBA Finals. They looked capable of winning this series, for sure. That’s a step forward from a year ago.

They never looked like this last season, when they lost in five games to the Celtics in the conference semifinal. They never looked like this in Game 1 on Saturday, when Leonard and Siakam torched them for 74 points, more than the Sixers’ starting five scored combined.

Brilliantly, Brown tasked Embiid, Greg Monroe, and Amir Johnson with defending Siakam. Boban Marjanovic, Embiid’s regular replacement but a far less mobile option than Monroe, stayed rooted to the bench Monday. Tobias Harris usually defended toothless Raptors center Marc Gasol.

Siakam scored 21, but he needed 25 shots to do it. He missed eight of his first 10 shots. It recalled Embiid’s effort earlier in the season against MVP favorite Giannis Antetokounmpo.

“The goal was to make him drive, make him go left,” Embiid said.

Embiid’s performance was less outstanding than it was heroic. He missed the morning shootaround with gastroenteritis but when game time came he showed plenty of guts. He exited the trainer’s room shortly before tipoff looking drained, and was so weak he could barely pull his socks on. He was limited to a 10-minute pregame warm-up. He received intravenous fluids up until game time, a needle in one arm, an iPad in his other hand, dissecting Gasol’s footwork, preparing for the inevitable.

“I was never going to miss this game,” he said. “If you’ve had [diarrhea] before, you know how it feels," Embiid said.

More predictably, Simmons guarded Leonard. Among the three players who had tried to stop Leonard in Game 1, Simmons was more effective than Butler and Harris. Simmons was even better in Game 2.

Four times in the first three quarters, Simmons locked up Leonard on the perimeter. He was reinserted in the last minute of the third quarter and specifically charged with stopping Leonard. Along with some double-team help, Simmons did just that.

Leonard scored 35 points — he is, after all, Kawhi Leonard, the league’s best all-around player — but nothing came easy. At least, not as easily as it came Saturday. When Butler matched up with Leonard, the Sixers usually sent help.

Gasol didn’t need help against Embiid, as usual, but Embiid clawed his way to 12 points, eight of them from his eight free throws. Double-teamed with 2 minutes, 14 seconds to play, Embiid located Butler with a lovely feed for a three-pointer that pushed the lead to 88-81.

Iced and exhausted later in the locker room, as Embiid watched the play on his iPhone, they relived the play with glee.

“A no-look pass for a three, from a five!” said Embiid, proud of his fifth assist.

“On the money, too,” Butler replied.

There was no such option in the final moments. Embiid had made just one of six field goals before the last 24 seconds, but, when the team needed him most, he drove hard and made a layup in Gasol’s chest. That push the lead to 92-89.

And it was Embiid’s flying block attempt that helped push Danny Green’s three-point try awry with 4.3 seconds to play.

With that, the series was tied.

With that, everything became possible.