PHILADELPHIA _ The Toronto Raptors turned this back into a series.
The Raptors defeated the 76ers, 101-96, Sunday in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal at the Wells Fargo Center. Toronto tied the series at 2-2. Game 5 of the best-of-seven matchup is 8 p.m. Tuesday at Scotiabank Arena.
Kawhi Leonard continued to dominate, finishing with 39 points, 14 rebounds, and 5 assists. The Raptors small forward has scored 45, 35, 33, and 39 points in the four games of the series.
Toronto center Marc Gasol added 16 points, while Kyle Lowry had 14 points, a team-high seven assists, and six rebounds.
Jimmy Butler paced the Sixers with 29 points and 11 rebounds. Joel Embiid had an off-shooting day, finishing with 11 points on 2-for-7 shooting. He had eight rebounds, seven assists, two blocks, and went 7-for-10 from the foul line. Embiid missed three free throws during a critical stretch of the fourth quarter.
Tobias Harris also had a tough time shooting the ball, finishing with 16 points while making just 7 of 23 shots.
As the Sixers expected, Pascal Siakam (nine points on 2-for-10 shooting) played despite being listed as doubtful with a bruised right calf.
The power forward was cleared to play after testing out his calf during a pregame workout. The third-year veteran failed to match his production in the first three games, when he averaged 23.3 points on 55 percent shooting. On Sunday, the Cameroonian had just two points in the first half while missing all six of his shots. He went on to miss his first eight shots before scoring on an alley-oop with 4 minutes, 15 seconds left in the third quarter.
Siakam's calf and the Raptors' expected adjustments were the major storylines. Sixers coach Brett Brown spent the previous two days trying to forecast what the Raptors would do differently.
Toronto coach Nick Nurse had suggested that his small lineup, which includes Lowry (6-foot-1) and reserve guards Fred VanVleet (6-0) and Norman Powell (6-4), could disappear. They were no match for the bigger Sixers lineups.
Nurse also said that the Raptors could opt to play Leonard more than his series average of 38.9 minutes in the first three games and that they could opt to put 6-foot-7 guard Patrick McCaw in the rotation.
Well, they did all three. Lowry and VanVleet weren't on the floor at the same time. McCaw was in the rotation even though that proved to be a failed adjustment. And Leonard played 42:49.
McCaw had a tough time staying in front of Butler, whom he was assigned to guard. As a result, McCaw only saw 4 minutes, 49 seconds of action, all in the first half.
The teams went into the fourth quarter tied at 75.
Once again, Leonard was on the bench at the start of the final quarter. But this time, the Raptors survived without him. They were down only two points (81-79) before Leonard was subbed in two minutes into the quarter.
Siakam knotted the score at 81 on a dunk 13 seconds later. The Sixers were doomed by poor shooting (23.8 percent) and making just 8 of 12 foul shots in the fourth quarter.
Embiid was subpar shooting the ball in the first half, finishing with just six points on 1-for-4 shooting. He made up for it in other areas, compiling five rebounds, four assists and two blocks while grading out at plus-nine in the first half.
