Philadelphia 76ers fans, take a deep breath. It’s not over.

Tobias Harris, Joel Embiid, Jimmy Butler | Philadelphia 76ers (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
Tobias Harris, Joel Embiid, Jimmy Butler | Philadelphia 76ers (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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After the Philadelphia 76ers’ resounding Game 5 loss, fans and media seem to have counted the Sixers and their stars out when there is still a legitimate chance that this team can win the series.

Yes, the Philadelphia 76ers had a rough outing on Tuesday, losing by 36 points to the Raptors on a night where Toronto’s Kawhi Leonard had an average game. The Raptors’ supporting cast all finally chipped in to help demolish the 76ers on a night where they couldn’t seem to get anything going. Jimmy Butler was seemingly the only Sixer who could put together a solid game. The Sixers were plagued by turnovers and showed little energy, not going after long rebounds or loose balls, which the Raptors took advantage of.

The Sixers are far from being ruled out in this series, even on the verge of elimination tonight. Fans are not helping the case by completely overreacting to both extremes. After wins, a large crowd is on the “Sixers to the Finals” train, while after losses, the Ben Simmons trade talks rise along with people calling for Brett Brown’s head and media outlets discrediting third-year superstar,  Joel Embiid, who has been plagued with injury throughout this series and all of the playoffs.

There needs to be a happy medium and minds need to be cleared and unbiased to look at the facts and the evidence placed before them. The Sixers are down 3-2 with Game 6 at home. Game 5 was the only blowout loss for the Sixers this entire series. The reason the losses have been so scrutinized was due to the optimism after the Sixers were up 2-1 with Game 4 at home.

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The Sixers won two straight earlier in this series and a Game 6 win could boost up their confidence again. Why can’t they win two straight again? The Toronto Raptors were the second team in the east for a reason. Beating them in five or six games would have been a miracle. This series was bound to be long, hard, and a pure battle every night.

Just one week ago, the Sixers beat the Raptors by 21 points in a 116-95 victory at The Wells Fargo Center. Embiid was in the best shape he’s been in the whole series and Jimmy Butler continued his outstanding play. Jimmy has continued that and has been the outright second best player in this series. The crowd will be bumping at the Center tonight and the Sixers are bound to seek revenge after an embarrassing loss in Game 5, on the verge of elimination. Expect the best basketball out of every Sixer and 1000 percent energy.

The overreaction has been outrageous. There have been plenty of series where the team down 3-2 has come back to win. The Raptors have only had consistent play from Kawhi this series and Pascal Siakam before his injury. Siakam was solid in Game 5 but was still obviously limited with his calf injury. The Sixers have a whole starting lineup that can go off for 20-plus in a game. Ben Simmons has struggled being defended by Kawhi, but has been the most capable defender on Leonard.

The Toronto Raptors finally made adjustments in the past few games and Brett Brown will have counters to those. Specifically, the Kawhi-Gasol pick-and-roll that has gone at Embiid the previous two games to fatigue and rough him up, by making him continuously move on the perimeter. Joel had success in Game 3 running the pick-and-roll with Jimmy and Tobias Harris with his short rolls and getting Marc Gasol out of position to give Embiid quicker, easier scoring options inside that he has struggled to find through this series.

If you forgot how the Sixers have dominated a game in this series just as the Raptors have, watch the video below to jog your memory.

There is a very small chance that J.J. Redick, Ben Simmons, and Joel Embiid will all be off their game again like they were in Game 5. James Ennis, who has been the X-factor off the bench for Philadelphia this series, struggled on Tuesday along with Greg Monroe. Mike Scott finally had a solid shooting night after recovering from his heel injury from round one.

The Sixers have the star power and scoring ability to play their game just as they have throughout this series. Brett Brown has made solid game-to-game adjustments and made the most out of a passive Ben Simmons and injury-ridden Joel Embiid. The Raptors on the other hand barely won Game 4 and needed all four of their other starters (not Kawhi) to play great basketball for them to get that blowout win while every Sixer besides Jimmy Butler had a subpar/porous outing. That will not happen again, especially on the verge of elimination.

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This team has too much talent to go out like this. The Sixers have had their ups and downs, just as the Raptors have, so don’t overreact to one game (i.e. Game 1 of the Nets series). They need to take this series one game at a time and they will bring immense effort and energy on both ends of the court tonight.