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Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown can still vividly remember watching Kawhi Leonard's rim-bouncing game-winner that ultimately ripped the hearts of his players as the Toronto Raptors moved on to win in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The moment is still crisp, as Leonard created separation on the right side of the floor and flung a last-second fadeaway jumper that hovered above the rim for an eternity before dropping through the hoop and ended the Sixers' postseason:
Article Continues Below“I could see Joel [Embiid] just stalking him into the corner and the shot goes up and it hits almost under the rim,” Brown said of his starting center, who defended the shot, according to Marc Narducci of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “And it kind of goes straight up. And it is like time for me stood still. It is like the moon in a pitch-black sky was sitting there. The horn goes off while it is sitting there.”
Time had frozen still for Brown and company:
“And then it goes in,” Brown said, before pivoting to Toronto coach Nick Nurse. “And on purpose I don’t blink, I just walk through, shake Nick’'s hand, …and see Joel upset and go straight in the locker room and immediately take my suit off and put my sweatpants on, and just [begin to] sort of think.”
This has been a very long offseason for a team that has had three full months to let that loss marinate. Sixers fans are hoping such heartbreak can be the motivating factor for improvement, now with different pieces on this roster and another chance to make a run at the Eastern Conference crown.
