Raptors are halfway to history after shocking Sixers with Game 5 win

TSN Raptors Reporter

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PHILADELPHIA – Belief is a powerful thing, and the Raptors believe they can do something that’s never been done before.

They believe they can make history, and the scary thing for Philadelphia and its tortured fan base is that the Sixers may be starting to believe it as well.

In the history of the NBA, 146 teams have fallen behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven playoff series. To this point, none of them have come back to win the series, but after its improbable Game 5 victory, undermanned and in hostile territory on the road, Toronto is halfway there.

You could feel the nervous energy in the building as the crowd at Wells Fargo Center watched the Raptors scrap and claw their way back into a series that seemed all but over a few short days ago.

The last time they were in Philly, they were embarrassed in a pair of blowout losses to open the series. Game 3 was theirs to lose; they led wire-to-wire through regulation before falling apart in overtime and giving up the dagger to Joel Embiid. That was supposed to be it for this plucky Raptors team and its fun, feel-good season.

But why would they start playing down to the odds now? They’ve spent the last seven months or so defying them and proving people wrong. If nothing else, we should’ve known better than to think they would go out quietly.

“I’m not surprised at all,” the newest Raptor, trade deadline acquisition and 15-year veteran Thaddeus Young said after his team’s 103-88 win cut Philadelphia’s series lead to 3-2 on Monday. “These guys from Day 1 when I got here seemed like a great group of guys who are very poised… We go out there and we play as hard as we can, everybody listens to each other, no one man is bigger than the team and that’s