The Toronto Raptors enter a pivotal Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers with the franchise’s future potentially on the line. What are some key factors that could swing the game in Toronto’s favour?

We all already know the stakes at this point. Sunday night, the Toronto Raptors will play a do-or-die Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers. One team will advance to the conference finals, and one will face major questions about its future.

After the 76ers dominated Game 6 at home to even up the series, Toronto is once again left to ponder adjustments going into the final contest. Following each of the three double-digit losses so far in this series, the losing team has bounced back and won the next game. Here are the keys to the Raptors doing the same in Game 7.

Maximum energy

The 76ers have consistently outrebounded the Raptors in this series, including an average of 10.5 offensive rebounds to Toronto’s 7.0 for the series. While part of that stems from Philadelphia’s extra size, with 6’10” Ben Simmons at point guard, much of it has been simply a lack of effort on Toronto’s part.

The Raptors went big by playing both of their centres, Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol, for 23 minutes in Game 4 and 14 minutes in Game 5. It paid off, with Toronto posting better total rebounding numbers in both games and even a better offensive rebounding rate than Philadelphia in Game 5.

But in both Game 3 and Game 6, Toronto just didn’t bring it on the defensive end and on the glass. Even in Game 6, while still using the Ibaka-Gasol duo for 13 minutes, the Raptors got slaughtered on the boards. The 76ers posted a monstrous 39-percent offensive rebounding rate in that game. There are multiple factors at play, but when the differential is that large, a lack of energy and effort must be a factor.

Frankly, top-level effort should be a given in any playoff game, let alone a Game 7, but Toronto simply hasn’t brought it every single night. The Raptors will have had two full days off to rest up, and they need to go all-out with their season on the line. Philadelphia will surely do the same, so Toronto at least needs to match that level and use its other strengths to prevail.

Make open shots

This is another obvious one, and it’s no fun to talk about, but it’s arguably the most important factor in any NBA game today. In this series, the Raptors have failed to convert on a ton of easy opportunities, particularly from beyond the arc.

Toronto has shot just 25.9-percent on “open” three-pointers in this series, per NBA.com – with a pretty significant 9.7 attempts nightly. They’ve shot an unthinkable 32.2-percent on a whopping 20.2 wide open three-point attempts per game, with a defender at least six feet away.

Philadelphia has several long defenders who can contest shots from afar, sure, but the Raptors’ shooting has been ridiculously bad despite getting so many good looks in this series. In Game 5, the one game in which Toronto shot above its average mark from deep instead of far below it, the Raptors blew out the 76ers by 36 points.

One contributor to watch will be Danny Green, who’s shot just 8-for-27 (29.6-percent) from distance in this series, outside of Game 5, when he went 5-for-7.