Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid drives against Precious Achiuwa of the Raptors during Game 6 of their first-round playoff series Thursday night in Toronto. Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP
TORONTO — Joel Embiid had 33 points and 10 rebounds, James Harden added 22 points and 15 assists and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Toronto Raptors 132-97 in Game 6 to end the first-round series Thursday night.
Philadelphia will face Miami in the second round. The top-seeded Heat beat Atlanta in five games.
Tyrese Maxey scored 25 points, going 5 for 12 from 3-point range, and Tobias Harris had 19 points and 11 rebounds to help the 76ers finish off the Raptors with a blowout after losing the previous two games.
Danny Green scored 12 points and shot 4 for 7 from 3-point range as the Sixers finished 16 for 40 from beyond the arc. The Raptors struggled from 3-point range, going 7 for 35.
Chris Boucher had 25 points and 10 rebounds for Toronto, Pascal Siakam fouled out after scoring 24 points, Gary Trent Jr. had 19 points and Scottie Barnes 18. Toronto lost in the first round for the first time since being swept by Washington in 2015.
Toronto played without all-star guard Fred Van-Vleet. He missed his second straight game because of a strained left hip flexor.
Toronto’s Precious Achiuwa had 17 points in Game 5 but didn’t score Thursday until making a free throw in the fourth quarter. Achiuwa drove for a dunk at the end of the third, but the basket was waved off because it came after the buzzer. He shot 1 for 7 and scored three points.
Toronto trailed 70-67 after Siakam made a hook shot with 9:42 left in the third, but Maxey hit three 3-pointers as the 76ers broke the game open with a 17-0 run over the next four-plus minutes, opening an 87-67 lead with 5:20 left in the quarter.
Raptors Coach Nick Nurse called timeout after Harden connected from distance with 3:52 left in the third, putting the Sixers up 92-70. Philadelphia took a 99-78 lead to the fourth.
SUNS 115, PELICANS 109: Chris Paul went 14 for 14 in the best shooting night in NBA playoff history, Devin Booker returned from a hamstring injury to hit a late 3-pointer and Phoenix won at New Orleans to finish off the first-round series in six games.
Paul had the most field goals without a miss in a playoff game, hit all four of his free throws and had eight assists as the top-seeded Suns overcame a 10-point halftime deficit.
Phoenix will face the Dallas-Utah winner in the second round.
Paul helped put the Suns up for good, at 102-101, with an assist on Deandre Ayton’s dunk with 2:12 left. Ayton had 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting.
The Suns erased the 10-point halftime deficit by making 13 of their first 14 shots in the third quarter to take a 77-74 lead. At that point, Paul was 10 of 10 from the field and Ayton was 6 of 6. Paul had 13 points in the quarter, but New Orleans used an 11-5 run to take an 85-82 lead into the final quarter.
Booker played for the first time in nine days since injuring his right hamstring after scoring 31 points in the first half of Game 2. He scored 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting and had five rebounds and three assists in 32 minutes.
Brandon Ingram led the Pelicans with 21 points.
NOTES
HEAT: The NBA fined Miami’s Jimmy Butler $15,000 for making what it described as an obscene gesture during the team’s series-clinching win on Tuesday against the Atlanta Hawks.
The Heat were also fined $15,000 for turning a video of the gesture into a social media post.
Butler did not play in Tuesday’s 97-94 victory, watching the game from the bench because of knee soreness. He made the gesture a few seconds after Max Strus connected on a second consecutive 3-pointer, part of a 10-0 run by Strus and a 17-0 run by the Heat that put them ahead in the game for good.
The social media post has since been deleted from the team account.
It is Butler’s third known fine this season, totaling $70,000. He was fined $30,000 for his involvement in an incident during a Denver-Miami game in November and $25,000 for violating league rules governing media interview access at the All-Star Game in February.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.