Every team in the NBA has different goals it wants to achieve in a given year. There’s too much self awareness in the league to believe every team sets out for a championship year in and year out. However, the night before every single game they buckle down to try and win that night, at the very least. At the start of this series the Raptors probably wanted to take one of the first two games in Philly. Then it became to take both in Toronto. And now? It’s shrunk to grabbing one game at a time. In this gambit, the Raptors are undefeated. How long can they walk this line? We’ll see. But, they followed their carefully curated, and adapted game plan to reach game 5.
“Well, somebody’s got to do it,” Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said after the game 3 loss. “And if it gets to 3-1, it’s not 3-0 any more. And 3-1 has been done.”
Every game against the 76ers is seen through the lens of defending Embiid, and Nurse was pretty withholding about the game plan for him after the game: “You can see we were sending a lot of people at him. So, I guess that’s probably it, really. I mean, we were trying to not let him get going as much as we could, and that takes more than one person to do it with, so that’s it.” Luckily, most of the scheme decisions, matchup decisions and principles were very similar to game 3, and I detailed, quite specifically, how the Raptors were defending the 76ers in that one. And as a disclaimer, because I’ve gotten quite a few comments about this on my breakdown videos: every single scouting department on every team already knows what I’m saying – I am not selling the Raptors down the river for content. If I was? You’d see me in a polo on the bench.
If you don’t have time for the video? The short version is that the Raptors have diverted some of the attention towards Harden, towards Maxey. Embiid had started to shake loose in broken plays and early offense, and the Raptors have settled down a lot of their rotations by coaxing more isolation possessions out of Harden. The ball stops with ‘The Beard’, Maxey is no longer attacking massive gaps provided by that attention, and the Raptors are switching a lot of the vaunted Harden-Embiid pick n’ roll. With Embiid, the Raptors are hanging their closest perimeter defender over his post-entry passes, and using the same principle to double. Occasionally they’ll bring from the middle or the baseline instead, but that’s just for the mix. The results have been fantastic through both games in Toronto, as the 76ers have posted offensive ratings of 111 and 104.
This defense hinges, largely, on Pascal Siakam (more on him in 2 hours from Louis) and OG Anunoby as they’re both out there for huge minutes every game, but Precious Achiuwa can threaten as the Raptors best defender every single night he steps on the floor. Thad Young and Chris Boucher have also plugged in really well. Also helpful? Gary Trent Jr. is in a much better spot defensively than when he was ill, which makes sense.
Fred VanVleet was providing, more or less, the amount of impact he was providing in the other games so far, before he tweaked his hip. He left the game after tearing his jersey, clearly upset, and went straight to the locker room. He did make time, however, to applaud Embiid in the tunnel post-game, after Embiid seemingly applauded the officials, sarcastically, on his way off the court. The team said it was a left hip strain. Nurse said that VanVleet was getting imaging done on it to determine severity – we haven’t heard those results yet.
“First of all, as you all know, he’s been banged around pretty good this year and he continues to lace it up and go out there, and play big minutes every night.” Nick Nurse said of Fred VanVleet after game 4. “So, there’s a lot to that. It’s not every guy in this league that does that. And I think when you’re fighting through one thing and all the sudden you get another one that feels as painful as it looks like it felt to him, it’s frustrating for him. He’s gonna play through a lot of bangs and bruises and bumps, and not being healthy and all that stuff, so I’m sure he was frustrated.”
Offensively? The Raptors played to the tune of a Siakam classic. Trent Jr.’s shot-making was massive, as the threat of his shot tugged Embiid out of the paint at times, and Thad Young’s playmaking helped breathe life into a few sets – the zone looks in particular. However, Siakam made this one happen. After 3 games of Tobias Harris, James Harden and the like putting two hands on him with impunity to deter downhill momentum, the flood gates opened. Siakam started to break through that line of defense, as he pressured the rim with a little more punch and received a healthy dose of free throws (15 attempts).
“I think, yeah, I was probably more assertive. Not a lot of, you know, looking around. Just taking whatever’s there. Like I talked about yesterday, just attacking, taking advantage of whatever I felt like was an advantage, and just making the right play. Or, at least trying to make the right play.” – Pascal Siakam after game 4
Mixed in, of course, was that shot-making from the middle of the court, be it the push shot or the fall away. Embiid still stands between he and the rim most of the time, and those short or long mid-range counters have to be there. Even in a game where it seemed like Siakam finally found headway toward the bucket, he only took 2 shots in the restricted area. Of his 10 shots made in game 4, only 3 came on assists, and only 1 of those assists created an advantage for him (the other 2 were resets). This is a player who is having virtually no favors done for him right now, and is grinding his way to successful results.
ROTY 4 SCOTTIE
Open Gym: Moment presented by @Bell @ScottBarnes561 pic.twitter.com/ZChgqo4nec
— x – Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) April 23, 2022
Of course, not to be lost in the shuffle, Scottie Barnes made his return with a muted performance. He’s clearly finding out how he can push his body and where his limitations are now, so no criticisms whatsoever. He helped out on the defensive glass and got up and down the floor. However, it’s exciting to imagine a version of Barnes might come out in game 5 that doesn’t take 80-percent of his shots from outside the paint. The most important thing was that he got the ROY award in front of a crowd that loves him dearly. Good feels, that one.
They got it from 3-0 to 3-1. A plan bears fruit. Let’s keep it going.
Have a blessed day.
A plan bears fruit, and somebody’s got to eat it - Raptors Republic
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