The Toronto Raptors are now just one win away from advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals after earning a dominant 36-point win win over the Philadelphia 76ers to take a 3-2 series lead.
They didn't even need a superhuman effort from Kawhi Leonard.
While Leonard finished the night with 21 points (on 7-for-16 shooting) to go along with 13 rebounds, four assists and two steals, Pascal Siakam led the way with a game-high 25 points (on 7-for-19 shooting), eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Kyle Lowry (19 points), Danny Green (17 points), Marc Gasol (11 points) and Serge Ibaka (10 points) also finished in double figures for the Raptors.
Philadelphia was led by 22 points from Jimmy Butler but couldn't overcome underwhelming performances from its All-Star duo of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid.
For more on how it unfolded, here are some takeaways from Game 5…
The second quarter
It's when the momentum swung in Toronto's favour.
After one quarter, things were essentially at a stalemate – the Raptors held a 27-26 lead despite shooting just 8-for-21 (38.1%) from the field and committing five early turnovers that led to six points for the 76ers.
The second frame was a totally different story.
Led by nine points from Danny Green, Toronto outscored Philadelphia 37-17 in the second to take a 21-point lead into the halftime break. Green was one of five Raptors to score five or more points in the quarter as Kawhi Leonard scored eight, Pascal Siakam and Serge Ibaka each scored six while Marc Gasol had five points in the frame.
Kawhi also had the loudest two points in the frame.
Toronto dominated all facets of the game in the second as it shot 12-for-21 from the field and 4-for-9 from deep while holding Philadelphia to 6-for-20 shooting from the field and 0-for-8 shooting from beyond the arc. The Raptors outrebounded the Sixers 12-7 and converted the Sixers four turnovers into eight points.
Philly made a brief run to begin the third quarter, but the gap created by Toronto in the second quarter was ultimately too much to overcome.
A rough outing for Simmons and Embiid
A big reason for Toronto's success was its ability to hold Philadelphia's young All-Star duo at bay.
Joel Embiid, who is battling an upper respiratory infection, was held to just 13 points (on 5-10 shooting) and six rebounds while committing eight turnovers in 31 minutes of action. Ben Simmons saw 25 minutes of action and scored just seven points, grabbed seven rebounds, dished out four assists and committed five turnovers of his own.
In summation, the Sixers two All-Stars combined to score 20 points while committing 13 turnovers; that's far from a winning formula.
Turnovers have been a season-long issue for Philadelphia, who gave the ball away 16 times in Game 5. For more perspective, two of the team's most talented players committed over 80% of its turnovers in a bad loss.
Should the Sixers extend this series to a decisive Game 7, they'll need this duo to play up to their All-Star capabilities, or else their season could be coming to an end.
Pascal's back
Pascal Siakam was a game-time decision for Game 4 with a right calf contusion.
He battled through the pain and played, but you could tell that the breakout forward was a shell of himself in that contest.
Game 5 was a different story right from the jump – Siakam came out gunning, scoring a team-high nine points in the first quarter behind a pair of 3-pointers, an encouraging start after going 0-for-4 from long range the game before.
At the half, Siakam had a game-high 15 points (tied with Jimmy Butler) on 5-for-13 shooting from the field with a game-best +/- of 25.
He kept that intensity after halftime, finishing with a team-high 25 points to go with eight rebounds, three assists, two steals, a block and just one turnover. His plus-35 +/- was also the highest on the team.
In Game 4 his touch wasn't there, he wasn't attacking the rim like his usual self and he struggled to rebound, too. In Game 5, you could immediately tell how much better the young forward was feeling. He was back to doing all the things he does best – attacking the rim, crashing the glass, using his wingspan to have active hands on defence and knocking down the corner 3-ball.
This is an encouraging sign for Raptors fans, who's second-most consistant player this postseason looks to have overcome his minor injury.
Mr. 1,000
Kyle Lowry was on attack mode from the start of the game – he scored 11 points in the first half while dishing out four assists.
He made a number of highlight plays in this game, including a tough and-1 finish at the rim and a 4-point play on an and-1 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.
Lowry finished with 19 points on 5-for-9 (55.6%) shooting from the field and 7-for-8 (87.5%) shooting from the free throw line to go with a pair of 3's. He also dished out nine assists, corralled five rebounds and came up with a block and a steal on the defensive end. His plus-31 +/- trailed only Pascal Siakam (plus-35) for the best in the game.
On top of his great performance, Lowry joined former teammate DeMar DeRozan as the only two players in Toronto Raptors' franchise history to score 1,000 points in the playoffs.
Whole lotta buckets :fire:
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 8, 2019
Lowry joins DeRozan as the only players with 1,000 career postseason points in Raptors history. pic.twitter.com/K889h0diOe
DeRozan is the franchise's all-time leading scorer in the playoffs with 1,117 points. After Game 5, Lowry is up to 1,005 points. Jonas Valanciunas, who was traded to the Grizzlies' earlier this season, ranks third with 544 points in the playoffs with Vince Carter's 385 points next in line.