Raptors fall to Embiid-less Sixers, split two-game set with Philadelphia
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TORONTO – Just in case you were wondering what a playoff series in October might feel like, the NBA has you covered.
In an effort to limit travel, the league is trying something a little different. Over the course of the season, each team is scheduled for multiple two-game sets, where they’ll play consecutive contests against the same opponent in the same location.
The Raptors have seven on the calendar for 2022-23, including a couple in the first 10 days of the campaign. If they’ve learned anything about them so far, it’s that coming out with a pair of wins won’t be easy.
In Miami last weekend, they were the first team to take a punch. After an eventful first half that saw Scottie Barnes leave with an ankle injury and the Heat take a 24-point lead, they nearly recovered before their comeback bid fell just short in the final minute. They bounced back a couple nights later, turning in their best defensive performance of the young season and holding Miami to 90 points.
With the Philadelphia 76ers in town for another two-gamer this week, a similar situation played out, but inversed. It was Toronto that controlled Game 1, leading nearly wire-to-wire en route to a 119-109 victory on Wednesday night. On Friday, the Sixers got their revenge.
“We didn’t have much effort or energy on anything,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said following a tough 112-90 loss. “We just weren’t very crisp at either end and I thought it showed up in a lot of areas.”
Of course, there’s a history between these two teams, with Toronto knocking Philadelphia out of the playoffs in that iconic seven game second-round series in 2019, on the way to winning the championship, and the Sixers returning the favour last season when they defeated the Raptors in the opening round.
Just like in a playoff series, where it’s difficult for any team to win consecutive games, Doc Rivers and his club made the necessary adjustments going into the rematch. And, naturally, the Sixers weren’t lacking for motivation, having been embarrassed 48 hours earlier.
“We talked about it but credit to them, they came back in the second game,” said Pascal Siakam, who led Toronto once again, recording 26 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. “It was like the situation we were in Miami – they came out and played well. And yeah, these games are going to be tough. I said it to the team; these games have a playoff feel just because you’re seeing the same team twice and people are going to make adjustments.”
“I just think it’s human nature,” said Nurse. “You’ve got the team right in front of you for the adjustments. There are a lot of times in this league where you’re filing your scouting report five minutes after the final buzzer and you’re moving on to the next one. In this case, obviously, you’re not. There [are] adjustments. One team will be more determined, maybe. That’s the way it goes in the playoff and that’s the way it feels right now.”
Not unlike a playoff series, we also saw some gamesmanship between these two division rivals. The Raptors found out that Joel Embiid was unavailable to play at the same time everybody else did: 30 minutes before tip-off. Philadelphia had listed its superstar centre as questionable earlier in the day, citing right knee injury management. Embiid dealt with a foot ailment over the summer but the knee issue was a new one. He looked good on Wednesday, scoring 31 points in 38 minutes, and while the Sixers were in the first half of a back-to-back, it seemed unlikely they would sit out their best player after getting off to a 1-4 start to the season.
Rivers waited until the very last minute to submit his lineup, sans Embiid. Meaning that the Raptors, who would have prepared an Embiib-centric game plan, had to pivot quickly. Whether they overlooked an undermanned opponent or simply weren’t ready, this was a bad loss.
“Something got us out of sorts,” Nurse said. “I’d hate to say it was [Embiid being out] but I don’t really know why we weren’t ready to give a little bit more effort tonight.”
The Raptors, who didn’t commit a turnover in the first half of Wednesday’s game, had 17 of them on the night, leading to 25 Sixers points. They shot 38 per cent from the field, including 9-of-39 from three-point range. They didn’t get their first points from the bench until Chris Boucher hit a three in the dying seconds of the third quarter, and Fred VanVleet had one of his worst games as a pro, scoring just one point and failing to hit a shot on 11 attempts in 34 minutes.
They were far worse defensively. One thing they were clearly not prepared for was Tyrese Maxey, the third-year guard who broke out during that playoff series last spring. Maxey shot a perfect 10-for-10 in the first half. He went on to hit nine threes and finish with 44 points.
Tip of the cap to him, he was incredible, but the Raptors didn’t offer much resistance. Even after he got hot, they left him wide open beyond the arc on consecutive possessions early in the second quarter. A few minutes later, Siakam closed out hard on Maxey and Barnes came over to help once the speedy guard got into the lane, but nobody rotated over to P.J. Tucker, who hit a three in the corner. Later in the frame, James Harden blew by a Raptors defender and shuffled a pass to Tucker, who kicked it out to Maxey, who was inexplicably open again. They were a step slow all night.
Finally, after the Raptors made a second-half run to cut the deficit from 23 points to six, Maxey put the game away with a personal 8-0 run.
“He was on fire,” Siakam said. “Credit to him, credit to them. He played amazing. He kept going, didn’t stop. Obviously we didn’t play our best but it was still manageable, but he kind of just took them over the top.”
A 3-3 start to the season always seemed like a realistic, and maybe even fortunate, outcome given how difficult the schedule has been. Their stretch of seven straight contests against playoff teams comes to a close when they host Atlanta on Monday and then the schedule eases up a bit in November. They face Chicago on back-to-back nights early in the month, though the first game is at home and the second is on the road. Their next two-game set comes in Orlando in early December.
“There’s no breathing [in this league],” said Siakam. “Everyone is getting better. I don’t think there’s any night that is going to be easy for us. We’ve got to put that in our minds. I think it’s great for us that we came into the season with these types of games. That just shows the type of intensity we are going to need every single night in order to be successful. We take the challenge and [know] it’s going to be tough.”
In an effort to limit travel, the league is trying something a little different. Over the course of the season, each team is scheduled for multiple two-game sets, where they’ll play consecutive contests against the same opponent in the same location.
The Raptors have seven on the calendar for 2022-23, including a couple in the first 10 days of the campaign. If they’ve learned anything about them so far, it’s that coming out with a pair of wins won’t be easy.
In Miami last weekend, they were the first team to take a punch. After an eventful first half that saw Scottie Barnes leave with an ankle injury and the Heat take a 24-point lead, they nearly recovered before their comeback bid fell just short in the final minute. They bounced back a couple nights later, turning in their best defensive performance of the young season and holding Miami to 90 points.
With the Philadelphia 76ers in town for another two-gamer this week, a similar situation played out, but inversed. It was Toronto that controlled Game 1, leading nearly wire-to-wire en route to a 119-109 victory on Wednesday night. On Friday, the Sixers got their revenge.
“We didn’t have much effort or energy on anything,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said following a tough 112-90 loss. “We just weren’t very crisp at either end and I thought it showed up in a lot of areas.”
Of course, there’s a history between these two teams, with Toronto knocking Philadelphia out of the playoffs in that iconic seven game second-round series in 2019, on the way to winning the championship, and the Sixers returning the favour last season when they defeated the Raptors in the opening round.
Just like in a playoff series, where it’s difficult for any team to win consecutive games, Doc Rivers and his club made the necessary adjustments going into the rematch. And, naturally, the Sixers weren’t lacking for motivation, having been embarrassed 48 hours earlier.
“We talked about it but credit to them, they came back in the second game,” said Pascal Siakam, who led Toronto once again, recording 26 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. “It was like the situation we were in Miami – they came out and played well. And yeah, these games are going to be tough. I said it to the team; these games have a playoff feel just because you’re seeing the same team twice and people are going to make adjustments.”
“I just think it’s human nature,” said Nurse. “You’ve got the team right in front of you for the adjustments. There are a lot of times in this league where you’re filing your scouting report five minutes after the final buzzer and you’re moving on to the next one. In this case, obviously, you’re not. There [are] adjustments. One team will be more determined, maybe. That’s the way it goes in the playoff and that’s the way it feels right now.”
Not unlike a playoff series, we also saw some gamesmanship between these two division rivals. The Raptors found out that Joel Embiid was unavailable to play at the same time everybody else did: 30 minutes before tip-off. Philadelphia had listed its superstar centre as questionable earlier in the day, citing right knee injury management. Embiid dealt with a foot ailment over the summer but the knee issue was a new one. He looked good on Wednesday, scoring 31 points in 38 minutes, and while the Sixers were in the first half of a back-to-back, it seemed unlikely they would sit out their best player after getting off to a 1-4 start to the season.
Rivers waited until the very last minute to submit his lineup, sans Embiid. Meaning that the Raptors, who would have prepared an Embiib-centric game plan, had to pivot quickly. Whether they overlooked an undermanned opponent or simply weren’t ready, this was a bad loss.
“Something got us out of sorts,” Nurse said. “I’d hate to say it was [Embiid being out] but I don’t really know why we weren’t ready to give a little bit more effort tonight.”
The Raptors, who didn’t commit a turnover in the first half of Wednesday’s game, had 17 of them on the night, leading to 25 Sixers points. They shot 38 per cent from the field, including 9-of-39 from three-point range. They didn’t get their first points from the bench until Chris Boucher hit a three in the dying seconds of the third quarter, and Fred VanVleet had one of his worst games as a pro, scoring just one point and failing to hit a shot on 11 attempts in 34 minutes.
They were far worse defensively. One thing they were clearly not prepared for was Tyrese Maxey, the third-year guard who broke out during that playoff series last spring. Maxey shot a perfect 10-for-10 in the first half. He went on to hit nine threes and finish with 44 points.
Tip of the cap to him, he was incredible, but the Raptors didn’t offer much resistance. Even after he got hot, they left him wide open beyond the arc on consecutive possessions early in the second quarter. A few minutes later, Siakam closed out hard on Maxey and Barnes came over to help once the speedy guard got into the lane, but nobody rotated over to P.J. Tucker, who hit a three in the corner. Later in the frame, James Harden blew by a Raptors defender and shuffled a pass to Tucker, who kicked it out to Maxey, who was inexplicably open again. They were a step slow all night.
Finally, after the Raptors made a second-half run to cut the deficit from 23 points to six, Maxey put the game away with a personal 8-0 run.
“He was on fire,” Siakam said. “Credit to him, credit to them. He played amazing. He kept going, didn’t stop. Obviously we didn’t play our best but it was still manageable, but he kind of just took them over the top.”
A 3-3 start to the season always seemed like a realistic, and maybe even fortunate, outcome given how difficult the schedule has been. Their stretch of seven straight contests against playoff teams comes to a close when they host Atlanta on Monday and then the schedule eases up a bit in November. They face Chicago on back-to-back nights early in the month, though the first game is at home and the second is on the road. Their next two-game set comes in Orlando in early December.
“There’s no breathing [in this league],” said Siakam. “Everyone is getting better. I don’t think there’s any night that is going to be easy for us. We’ve got to put that in our minds. I think it’s great for us that we came into the season with these types of games. That just shows the type of intensity we are going to need every single night in order to be successful. We take the challenge and [know] it’s going to be tough.”