PHILADELPHIA _ They were done. Everybody thought it, didn't they? You, me, all of the experts who'd predicted the Raptors in five or in six, anybody who'd been anything other than comatose for the 36-point loss that pushed the Sixers to the brink of elimination 48 hours earlier.
And yet, in the final minute of the third quarter, there it came, the first of what would prove to be many daggers, an impulsive 3-point attempt from the 7-foot-whatever center out of the University of Kansas, smooth and true and pure, his face breaking into a smile as big and white as his No. 21 jersey as he backpedaled his way toward the defensive end.
Roughly seventy-two hours from now, the Sixers will take the court at ScotiaBank Arena, having pushed the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference as close to the edge as a favorite in a seven-game series can possibly go. Whatever happens from that point forward, whether they extend this whirlwind of a season by at least four more games, in whatever manner the end ultimately comes, the Sixers' death-defying 112-101 victory at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night should live on as a big, bright positive grade on a lot of different lines in the ledger.
From Ben Simmons, a player whose approval rating could be charted with a seismograph's needle, there came a reminder of all of the reasons the Sixers would be fools to consider a future without him as a foundational piece. Not only did he show us all of the physical gifts that made him an All-Star in the second year of his career, he showed us growth. That's something that many have sworn they have not and will not see out of the kid, particularly in the wake of his passive, confused performance in the Sixers' 125-89 loss in Game 5. Prior to Game 6, his coach said he thought that game would bring a more-assertive Simmons, and that's exactly what it did. He charged out of the gate, and he did not stop, whether it was pushing the pace after a long missed-3 by Kyle Lowry and dishing to Jimmy Butler at the opposite end of the court, or rising above the rim to jam home a miss by Joel Embiid and punctuating it with a roar.
From Butler, the one Sixer who has worn his big-boy pants throughout the series, there came a reminder that the Sixers will have no choice but to consider maxing him out once he reaches free agency this offseason. The veteran guard was the Sixers' counter-puncher in the win, summoning his inner closer to score seven points in the final 78 seconds of the first half. After Toronto went on a 12-0 run to cut a 19-point Raptors' deficit down to seven in the second quarter, Butler got himself into the paint and hit a pull-up jumper that stopped the bleeding. A couple of possessions later, he broke down Danny Green with a cross-over and lobbed to Simmons for an emphatic alley-oop dunk that seemed to right the wobble in the Sixers' gait.
And from Brett Brown, a man who arrived at the arena with head coaching's grim reaper riding in his back seat, there came a reminder that the Sixers will need to think long and hard about whether the labor market is likely to yield a coach who is better than the one they have. This was a must-win in the most literal sense, and the Sixers came out looking as though they knew they would win it. We'd hold it against Brown if the opposite occurred, so it seems dishonest to not at least consider what it might say, given the level of dominance the Sixers displayed.
As for Game 7 ... .
Nobody should ignore the fact that Game 6 was first and foremost a reminder that Kawhi Leonard is, in fact, a human being. In the midst of one of the great postseasons of all time, Leonard shot 9 of 20 from the field and 0 for 4 from 3-point range. It was an almost stunning sight to see given the automation that he has displayed throughout most of the series. As was this little fact: in his last two games, Leonard is 0 for 8 from 3-point range and 16 of 36 from the field, after the first four games, in which he shot 55 of 89 from the floor and 13 of 28 from 3-point range, while averaging 38 points in 40 minutes a night.
Counting on Leonard to play like a mortal for a third straight game is a dicey proposition for a Sixers team that has spent much of this season trying to find itself defensively. Still, there were precious few who thought they'd even get that chance. Whatever the expectations that ownership has set forth, it says something that the Sixers will enter the last game of this series with a pulse.
