Jimmy Butler is letting the Philadelphia 76ers know they can’t afford to lose him.

Butler scored 12 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter of Monday’s Eastern Conference semifinal game against the Toronto Raptors, including a 3-pointer off an incredible assist from double-teamed Sixers teammate Joel Embiid. That pushed the lead to seven in the final minutes of the game Philly won, 94-89.

After getting dominated by Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam and the Raptors in Game 1, the Sixers now head home for Thursday’s Game 3 after a split in Toronto.

Butler added 11 rebounds and five assists over 43 minutes on Monday night. He also drew the difficult defensive task of trying to slow down Leonard and Siakam, who combined for 74 points in Saturday’s 108-95 victory. Leonard was great again in Game 2, scoring 35 points against tight coverage, but Siakam required 25 shots to get to 21 points in Monday’s Game 2 defeat.

It was Butler’s work as a closer that was most important for the Sixers, who otherwise struggled to manufacture offense against a stingy Raptors defense. Philadelphia traded several assets in November so that Butler could fill this very role. The Sixers lacked someone capable of creating clutch offense in last year’s embarrassing five-game conference semifinals loss to the Boston Celtics.

It felt like this series might go a similar way after Game 1, but Butler scored seven straight points from the 2:55 mark to the 1:42 mark of the fourth quarter on Monday, nearly matching his point total for all of Game 1. The Raptors, who had trailed by as many as 19 points, were storming back late in the final frame, with Toronto’s crowd fueling a momentum shift, but Butler answered on three straight possessions before finding Embiid for another key bucket in the final minute.

“My team had a lot of faith in me tonight,” Butler told TNT sideline reporter Ros Gold-Onwude after the game. “I told them I had to come out and redeem myself.”

It was a good thing he did, because his Sixers teammates submitted another lackluster offensive effort. Embiid made just two field goals in 32 minutes, and Ben Simmons scored six points over 44 minutes. There are still plenty of questions about whether Philadelphia’s budding superstar tandem can carry a contender, but Butler ensured his Sixers teammates don’t have to answer them for another day.

“This was James Butler,” Sixers coach Brett Brown told reporters afterwards. “That was the adult in the gym. I get as excited about the volume of 3’s that he sought as much as anything, and he was just a tremendous sort of rock. He willed us to a lot of different situations. ... He was a stud. He really was an adult in the gym.”

(For the record: “My name isn’t James,” responded Butler, “it’s literally Jimmy.”)

The 76ers didn’t have many adults. The other four guys in Philadelphia’s vaunted starting lineup combined to shoot 12-for-34 from the field, and the Sixers as a team shot 28.6 percent from 3-point range despite Butler’s 4-for-10 outing from distance. (The 10 3-point attempts from Butler were a career high for him, by the way.) An inspired defensive performance left Toronto’s offense equally inept, but there’s little doubt Philadelphia would be staring at an 0-2 series hole again if not for Butler.

Butler’s contract is up at season’s end, and initial reports following the trade suggested the two teams would work towards a long-term solution this summer, but questions about his fit with Philadelphia’s young stars seemingly left a max contract offer hanging in the balance of his playoff performance. Monday’s effort showed now more than ever: The Sixers can’t afford to lose Butler to free agency.

– – – – – – –

Ben Rohrbach is a staff writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach

More from Yahoo Sports:

• Haynes: Refs draw ire of Rockets and Warriors

• Legendary kicker retires after 19 seasons in NFL

• With Curry in foul trouble, coach turns to Curry's mom

• Grading the winners and losers in the NFL draft