Manila Bulletin

Raptors, T-Blazers clinch Game 7s

Leonard drains buzzer-beater, lifts Toronto past Philly With Lillard in an icy funk, McCollum comes out on fire

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LOS ANGELES, (AFP) – Kawhi Leonard bounced in the game-winning shot at the buzzer as the Toronto Raptors advanced to the Eastern Conference finals with a 92-90 win over the visiting Philadelph­ia 76ers in a heartstopp­ing game seven on Sunday.

Game seven was a microcosm of the wildly-unpredicta­ble series with each team taking turns making runs or being inept until the biggest twist of all from Leonard finished it off in dramatic style.

‘’I got a fortuitous bounce,’’ said Leonard. ‘’I just shot it as hard as I could. I got some loft on it and it made the ball bounce soft and it ended up going in.’’

The Raptors advance to the NBA final-four where they will play the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in game one of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday.

With the score tied 90-90 and the game appearing to be headed to overtime, Leonard took matters into his own hands by getting open for a long shot from the right side. His arching moon ball at the buzzer bounced twice on each side of the rim before dropping in to clinch the series for the Raptors.

Leonard finished with a game high 41 points while Pascal Siakam tallied 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Raptors whose players had a combined 21 games of experience in game sevens compared to just nine combined games by the Sixers players.

Elsewhere, the Portland Trail Blazers rallied on the back of CJ McCollum’s 37 points to stun the Nuggets 100-96 in Denver and book a Western Conference finals date with NBA champions Golden State. With Portland star Damian Lillard struggling to get shots to fall, Denver exploded out of the gates, seizing a 29-17 first-quarter lead that they stretched to as many as 17 in the second period. McCollum kept the Blazers in it, his driving basket giving them their first lead of the game, 71-70 with 12 seconds left in the third quarter.

 ??  ?? Kawhi Leonard of the Toronto Raptors (right) lets fly the game-winning basket against the Philadelph­ia 76ers during Game 7 of the NBA Eastern Conference semifinals yesterday at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (AFP)
Kawhi Leonard of the Toronto Raptors (right) lets fly the game-winning basket against the Philadelph­ia 76ers during Game 7 of the NBA Eastern Conference semifinals yesterday at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (AFP)
 ??  ?? CJ MCCOLLUM
CJ MCCOLLUM

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