TORONTO–The Philadelphia 76ers were able to come away with a 4-2 series win over the Toronto Raptors after winning Game 6 on Thursday to move on officially to Round 2. The series got overshadowed by the unfortunate orbital fracture of Joel Embiid, but the Sixers got great play out of Tobias Harris.
Harris averaged 17.8 points and 9.5 rebounds while shooting 51.9% from the floor and 43.3% from deep across the six games. He was also tasked with defending Raptors All-Star Pascal Siakam and he bothered the hell out of him all series long.
“Tobias was great,” said James Harden. “Especially, on the defensive end. The task to guard Siakam basically the entire game, we asked a lot of him. I think he stepped up to the challenge. Obviously, the shot-making was great, his attacks to the rim were great, he rebounded the basketball great which we need from him consistently, but I think defensively, which he doesn’t get a lot of credit for, he was on one this series. We’re gonna need that going forward from him because he’s so versatile.”
With the injury to Embiid, the Sixers will again need Harris to have himself a big series against the Miami Heat. His play against the Raptors was outstanding as he is really settling into this new role with the team and he is flourishing with the Sixers at the moment.
“Tobias was amazing,” said coach Doc Rivers. “Numbers-wise, you’ll look at Tyrese (Maxey) and James and Joel, but Tobias might’ve been the most valuable guy in this series. Guarding Siakam is not easy and he did it throughout and he did it with vigor and just great fight.”
Harris will now have a new challenge against the Heat where he will likely be matched up with Jimmy Butler or Bam Adebayo and others.
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