3 adjustments the Raptors should make for Game 3

The playoffs are about making adjustments, and it was clear that Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown got the better of the Toronto Raptors’ Nick Nurse in Game 2.

Brown went back to the drawing board following a lopsided loss in Game 1, and came back with two major adjustments. One, he stationed Joel Embiid on Pascal Siakam, while having Tobias Harris cover Marc Gasol. Two, Brown asked Jimmy Butler cover Kyle Lowry, while Ben Simmons took on the impossible task of covering Kawhi Leonard. Brown’s adjustments clearly worked, as Toronto went from scoring 108 points on 52 percent shooting, down to 87 points on 37 percent.

Now it’s Nurse’s turn to respond. Brown already hinted after Sixers practice on Wednesday that his plan is to repeat the same strategy, so there’s no excuse for the Raptors to be caught off guard like they were on Monday. Nurse is still working with more talent, and it’s up to him to adjust.

Siakam needs to be smarter against Embiid

The Raptors are at the point where they’re dead in the water if Siakam is having an off-night, and they saw the result of that in Game 2.

Siakam followed an electric 12-of-15 outing with a ghastly 9-of-25 performance, in which he shot just 6-of-17 against his countryman. Embiid kept Siakam from spinning his way into the restricted area, stayed down on Siakam’s fakes, left him free to fire away from outside the corners, and it helped that Siakam also wasn’t able to find his range.

However, Siakam also played into Embiid’s hands by forcing his game and making bad decisions. Siakam went 0-for-4 in the mid-range, and more to the point, he took 13 contested shots with most of those hopeful attempts over a 7-foot-3 behemoth. Siakam was more focused on rushing to get his shot over Embiid’s outstretched arms, rather than to actually put it softly up on the rim as he normally would.

“If it was me, I probably wouldn't go to the rim and try to take him on. But there's some other things he can do, maybe,” Nurse said cheekily of Siakam’s shot selection.

Being more selective will go a long way for Siakam, and he should focus his attention to opportunities along the baseline. Siakam can either take the shorter corner three, or draw Embiid out to the perimeter and beat him with his quickness. Siakam’s best play came early in the game when he beat Embiid with his signature spin move, but then he never tried that baseline drive for the rest of the night.

Better yet, the Raptors should try to attack the space that Embiid is giving Siakam in the same way that the Sixers do with Simmons. Any solid screen involving Siakam will result in a 2-on-1 scenario, and dribble hand-offs with Siakam will create the same advantage. Pairing up Siakam and Leonard should make the Sixers think twice about sagging Embiid into the paint. And if he does come out, the paint is once again open for Siakam to slip to the basket.

Keep posting up Marc Gasol

The simplest adjustment would be to find more touches for Gasol in the post. He has 40 pounds on Harris, and while he isn’t necessarily a dominant interior scorer, at some point he is still a 7-footer under the rim.

Philadelphia doubted Gasol enough to reassign Embiid, but they’re not just outright disrespecting him. The Sixers are still sending double teams when Gasol is in the post, and that in itself is an advantage. A masterful passer like Gasol should be able to find the open man. The problem for the Raptors in Game 2 was that they shot 19-of-54 on uncontested shots.

However, the Raptors also didn’t do Gasol any favors with their spacing. The help defender generally came from Siakam’s man, but the Raptors didn’t recognize this tactic until the second half. It’s understandable to be caught off guard initially, but the Raptors need to be cognizant of this moving forward.

Two basic counters would be to station Siakam in the opposite corner so the help defender would have to come a longer way, or to have Siakam set a down screen for another player so Gasol can pick out the shooter in a 2-on-1 scenario. Either way, the Raptors should be getting open threes against Philly’s defense.

Simpler yet, they can save all the hassle if Gasol could establish deeper post position. Gasol was at his best when he was straddling the restricted area, as it opened up more space in the lane to cut once he drew two defenders to him. Siakam and Leonard both got layups by cutting in behind the defense.

Nurse needs to shuffle rotations

On one hand, it’s understandable that Nurse didn’t want to alter the rotation that produced five consecutive playoff wins. But on the other hand, it’s strange that a proclaimed innovator like Nurse is suddenly so beholden to one strategy that clearly won’t work in this matchup. Stubbornness is a death knell in the playoffs.

The easiest move would be to stop playing Norman Powell, Fred VanVleet, and Serge Ibaka together. Not only are the three of them entirely out of sync on offense, but they’re also fighting an uphill battle against Philadelphia’s starters to end the first and start the second quarters. Any advantage accrued by the Raptors’ starters will inevitably be neutralized by their bench, and it’s been like this all season. Sixers reserve James Ennis - who was dumped by the depth-starved Rockets earlier this season - singlehandedly outscored Toronto’s reserves 24-15 through two games.

Nurse should try to mix his bench players in with his stars. Ibaka has proven to be effective in place of Gasol with the starters throughout the season, and he should come in earlier so he can share more time with Lowry. The ancillary benefit of subbing in Ibaka earlier will be that Gasol can log more of his minutes against Embiid. Ibaka is doing his best to contest Embiid, but he’s also prone to fouling, and that becomes especially costly when Embiid returns to the game late in the first and third quarters when the Raptors are usually in foul trouble.

The downside to mixing in bench players is that Nurse would be taking away minutes from his starters. But at this point, it’s about limiting damage more so than maximizing their advantages. What good is it for the starters to arduously carve out an early lead if the bench can’t even hold it together without bleeding 5-0 runs for every minute of play?

More Raptors coverage from Yahoo Sports