Charles Barkley: Sixers Not Going to Win Game 6 in Toronto
Former Sixers star and current Inside the NBA co-host Charles Barkley believes the Sixers are in trouble in its first-round series against the Toronto Raptors.
With the series sitting at 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Thursday, Barkley did hold back when discussing where he sees this series heading.
"When you have a chance to close out at home, you better freaking do it," Barkley stated. "They're not going to win Game 6 in Toronto. By the time they get to Game 7, there sphincters are going to be so tight. There will be so much pressure on them in Philly."
The Sixers will enter the game having dropped two straight games since it was reported that Joel Embiid has a torn ligament in his thumb and the Raptors have taken advantage of that on the offensive end of the court.
Another key number to look at in this series is the three-point shooting, the Sixers shot over 40% from behind the arc in the first four games, but in Game 5 on Monday they connected on just 27% of their three's. One has to wonder if they're stretch of hot shooting is hitting a lull at the most inopportune time.
We all know the stat of 143-0.
No team has ever coughed up a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven playoff series, but one concerning number comes from teams coached by Doc Rivers.
The Raptors are the 14th team all-time to force Game 6 after trailing 3-0 in the series and only three teams in NBA history have forced Game 7 after being in that situation (most recently in 2003 Trail Blazers), but none of them rallied to win the series.
Let's hope the Sixers aren't the first team to lose to allow this to happen, or things could get real ugly in Philadelphia.