NBA Live 19 Playoffs Simulation: Philadelphia 76ers vs. Toronto Raptors Game 7 Results
The NBA Live 19 cover athlete Joel Embiid will be amongst the featured athletes in a huge Game 7 on Sunday night. It’s the Philadelphia 76ers vs. Toronto Raptors with the winner advancing to play the Milwaukee Bucks. We gave this exciting matchup the NBA Live 19 playoffs simulation treatment to see who might win. Here’s a look at our NBA Live game results for a possible prediction ahead of the real game.
NBA Live simulation results: Sixers vs. Raptors first half
Since we simulated the Blazers vs. Nuggets on NBA 2K19, we decided to see how NBA Live would do with the other big game. It’s worth mentioning that using the appropriate CPU sliders is essential to getting a true simulation. Early on, we saw JJ Redick help the Sixers surge to a 9-4 lead. All-Star Kawhi Leonard seemed unable to get things going early on with a number of missed opportunities.
That changed when he nailed a shot clock-beating three to wake up the Toronto crowd. Simmons nailed a turnaround jumper to make it a 19-11 lead at just under the four-minute mark. In Game 2 of the real series, Toronto managed just 17 points in the first quarter. That was similar to this simulation as the quarter closed with Philly up 29-19.
In the start of the second quarter, Toronto’s Marc Gasol came up with two-straight buckets to cut the visitors’ lead to just six. The 76ers kept hold of their lead but Gasol was undeniable down low. So was Joel Embiid, who one-upped Gasol’s inside layup with a dunk on the other end. A sweet pass from Lowry to Danny Green for a slam made it 45-41 Sixers at just under two minutes to go. Lowry’s three cut the lead to just a point and with under 20 seconds left, his jumper gave Toronto a 46-45 lead into halftime.
NBA Live simulation results for second half, stats leaders
It seems as if Jimmy Butler was watching the NBA Live’s halftime report which labeled him as “cold” for the first half. Butler answered that by scoring four-straight points help his team regain an early second-half lead. Soon after, Kyle Lowry’s acrobatic “and one” layup tied the game at 51-51. Butler kept up his scoring, but Kawhi started to answer. Both players had multiple baskets for the team in a hot third quarter. The Sixers capitalized on their opponents’ mistakes and turnovers along with continued scoring to take a 77-68 lead into the final quarter.
JJ Redick’s three early in the fourth made it an 82-68 lead for the visitors. With Kawhi on the bench, Toronto managed to go on an 11-3 run to cut the lead to just eight points. Joel Embiid’s putback off a rebound finally helped the Sixers answer. They’d run the lead back up to 12 until Danny Green nailed a shot clock-beating three to make it 91-82 Sixers with under four minutes to go.
The Sixers wouldn’t let up, as they pushed their lead to 13 points with less than two minutes to go. Philly scored inside to further crush the Raptors’ hopes. As the final buzzer sounded, the Sixers claimed an upset road win, 101-86. They shot 54 percent for the game with the trio of Embiid, Butler, Simmons combining for 73 points.
It’s no surprise who was named NBA Live Player of the Game. It was none other than the cover star himself, Joel Embiid. He had a decent game in which he racked up 25 points, seven boards, and four assists to help lead his team to the road upset. One has to wonder if this would’ve played out similarly in the NBA 2K game.
NBA Simulation: Game 7 final thoughts
So our simulation gives a 15-point road win to the visiting Philadelphia 76ers. This would be a devastating home loss for Toronto, knocking them out of the playoffs despite the big trade they made for Kawhi Leonard. Looking at the real-life results so far in this NBA Playoffs series:
- TOR wins Game 1: 108-95
- PHI wins Game 2: 94-89
- PHI wins Game 3: 116-95
- TOR wins Game 4: 101-96
- TOR wins Game 5: 125-89
- PHI wins Game 6: 112-101
Will “Jimmy Buckets” and Joel Embiid take over tonight’s game to propel the Sixers to the Eastern Conference Finals? Kawhi Leonard has looked pretty good in the real version of the NBA. It’s also known that the Sixers are not the best road team in the East playoffs. So it should be interesting to see if Sunday’s Game 7 is similar to what we saw in the NBA Live 19 playoffs simulation.