Joel Embiid says Philadelphia 76ers 'fine' after Game 5 loss to Toronto Raptors, wants James Harden to take more shots

PHILADELPHIA — After the Raptors took down the 76ers 103-88 in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference first-round series Monday night — moving Toronto within two wins of becoming the first team to erase a 3-0 deficit in NBA history — Philadelphia superstar Joel Embiid remained confident his team has what it takes to close out this series.

«We're fine,» Embiid said after finishing with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists in 39 minutes. «I mean, it's the same recipe. Don't turn the ball over, offensive rebound. We've definitely got to be better defensively, more connected. Defensively, I felt like there [were] a few plays where we were not on point and we didn't have each others' backs.

»But we're fine. There's a reason we won three games in a row. Offensively, we clearly haven't been ourselves and that's really been the reason why we gave up these last two games. So we just got to do better."

The fact that Embiid, who said the torn ligament in his right thumb didn't feel any different after Game 5, even had to send out a reassuring message to the team and its fan base shows just how much things have changed since he drained the game-winning 3-pointer in overtime of Game 3 to push Philadelphia to the brink of advancing to the second round for the fourth time in the past five years.

Now, however, the 76ers find themselves in an absolute dogfight with a Raptors team that — despite missing All-Star point guard Fred VanVleet, who sat out with a left hip flexor strain — controlled Monday's game virtually from start to finish and to become the 14th team to win two games after falling behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven series, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. If Toronto can win at home Thursday, the Raptors would become