"We're playing for pride": VanVleet reflects on Raptors' 0-3 hole vs. 76ers
In just about every way but officially, the Toronto Raptors’ season is now over.
A 104-101 overtime loss on Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena gave the Philadelphia 76ers a 3-0 series lead in the opening round of the NBA playoffs.
By way of a remarkable, game-winning, last-second shot by Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, Toronto saw their hopes of getting back in the playoff series snatched away.
JOEL EMBIID WITH THE HUGE THREE IN OT đ± pic.twitter.com/VKpdy4HszF
— ESPN (@espn) April 21, 2022
Teams are 143-0 in NBA history when carrying a three-games-to-zero lead in a best-of-seven playoff series.
Either the Raptors mount the greatest comeback in league history, or they face the inevitable conclusion that their next meaningful game will be played in October.
But whatever the history may show about the unlikelihood of a comeback, Toronto still has to continue the series on Saturday afternoon when they host the 76ers for Game 4.
It might feel like the season is done, and it very well might be by about 5 pm ET on Saturday. But until the final buzzer of the final game goes, there’s still more basketball left to be played.
“There’s no moral victories right now,” Fred VanVleet said to reporters after the Game 3 loss. “We can sit back, once it’s all said and done and appreciate and have an optimistic perspective. But right now we’re still in the trenches, we’re still in the fight. We’ve got to bring even more fight in a couple days. And there’s no room to look around and feel sorry for ourselves.”
The Raptors came into the series with confidence they could play the underdog role perfectly, buoyed by their 3-1 in season record against Philadelphia. But through three games, Toronto has dealt with two blowouts and one heartbreaking loss where they squandered a lead that climbed to as high as 17.
The game-winning shot by Embiid, for some, came as a full-circle moment to the world-famous Kawhi Leonard buzzer beater over the Philadelphia centre on the same floor in Game 7 of the 2019 Eastern Conference semifinals, the last playoff game between the two teams. Embiid left the floor in tears that night, which teammate Tyrese Maxey (who joined the 76ers a year later) said helped show him how much passion he had to win in the playoffs.
“He’s about three years better, for a guy that’s gotten better, seemingly every year he’s played,” VanVleet said about Embiid’s growth since 2019. “We’ve got to stand up, look ourselves in the mirror, get some rest, recover and go lace them up again. You can’t really cry about it. We have nobody to blame but ourselves. We fought hard enough, we just didn’t do enough.”
Tipoff is set for Game 4 Saturday at 2 pm ET.
“We played a lot of minutes of great basketball, and we’re gonna have to do it again and bring even more fight even more intensity, more execution,” VanVleet added. “We’re playing for our pride, our pride is on the line.”
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