Raptors Use The Homecourt Advantage

Through the first four games of the series between the Raptors and Sixers, homecourt meant nothing. Each team split a pair on the other's floor. Now, in the last two games, homecourt has meant everything.

At the end of Game 5, it looked like the Raptors may have given up on themselves, but the fans in Air Canada Centre would not let them. A rousing ovation started 10 minutes before they even took the floor for pregame warmups and did not stop until well after the final buzzer.

Williams

"The crowd was definitely into it. That was the homecourt advantage," said Alvin Williams who had probably his best game of the series. "They did a great job of supporting us and leading right to the outcome."

Perhaps spurred on by the lift given to the Sixers by their own fans on Wednesday, Raptors fans demonstrated that they could be every bit as lively, rambunctious, intimidating and inspiring as their counterparts in the City of Brotherly Love.

"Before the game, we saw the Purple Fever shirts, the headbands and stuff like that," added Morris Peterson, a surprise starter who lit up the scoreboard with 17 crucial points. "I think it all started at the defensive end early in the game and again in the fourth quarter."

Consequently, Toronto and Philadelphia will engage in a winner-take-all Game 7 on Sunday (5:30 p.m., CTV/NBC). It will be intense. It will be physical. It very well could be bloody. But one thing is certain. It will be fun to watch.

And now that the Raptors have removed the cobwebs that put them all into a catatonic state in Game 5, and now that it seems they have an idea of how to defend the league's leading scorer Allen Iverson, it will be a deciding Game 7 where, ironically enough, the home court may not be the determining factor at all. It should be the best team that wins and advances to the Conference Final, which would start on Tuesday.

Peterson

The Raptors have never engaged in a Game 7 in their brief playoff history. They had a decisive Game 5 in the first round against the Knicks, one in which they surprised everyone but themselves and emerged as the victors.

Toronto really had its sixth man going on Friday, as noted by one of the most enthusiastic individuals around, 76ers President Pat Croce.

"It was one of the loudest crowds I have heard. Good passion. I won't say they were louder than our crowd, but I was impressed."

In the vernacular of sports, there is magic to the phrase 'Game 7.' It talks to two teams pushed to the limit, two teams evenly matched in nearly every regard. And that is what we will see on Sunday.