Sixers discuss making sure Joel Embiid gets going in series vs. Raptors
CAMDEN, N.J.–As the Philadelphia 76ers prepare for Round 1 for the Toronto Raptors which begins with Game 1 on Saturday, there are some challenges that the No. 5 seed Raptors will throw at them.
The Sixers dropped three of the four matchups with Toronto during the regular season and the Raptors made Joel Embiid work for everything he got.
Embiid averaged 29.0 points against Toronto in three games, but he shot only 46.6% and he had to work extremely hard for everything he got as the Raptors were able to use a lot of their length to bother him. Guys like Pascal Siakam, Chris Boucher, Scottie Barnes, and Precious Achiuwa made life tough on him.
As Philadelphia got back to practice on Tuesday, the team discussed what Toronto does to bother him and how they combat that.
“The size, the same size,” said coach Doc Rivers. “A lot of teams try to do the same thing, but they got two guards who are 6-foot-1. So when you’re doubling Joel and you’re diving guys, that’s a 6-foot-1 guy that’s trying to take a dive. Against them, that’s a 6-foot-9 guy that’s taking a dive. They can absorb that.”
When looking up and down Toronto’s roster, Fred VanVleet stands at 6-foot-1, but then all of their guys are 6-foot-5 or taller and they present a lot of length and an ability to play multiple positions.
“In most cases, their trapper is 6-foot-7, 6-foot-8, a lot of times you can throw the ball to Joel with any player,” said Rivers. “With them, you have to give thought to who’s throwing. If you can get one of their smaller guards like (Gary) Trent or VanVleet, you can throw it and try to trap it off of him, and that’s a 6-foot-3 guard that Joel can seal.”
In order for the Sixers to combat that, they are going to have to get out and run. They do that by forcing turnovers and being able to have success in the open floor. That way, Embiid won’t see a swarm of defenders.
“Their versatility and their size out there,” added Tobias Harris. “A lot of wings, a lot of forwards, and they take up a lot of space, they present a lot of length, and they switch 1 through 5 pretty much. Any time you have that type of combination, that makes a team pretty good defensively. We just gotta figure out ways to be able to combat that and that’s gonna be with our pace, our speed, offensively, being sharp, and getting the baskets that we wanna get, and be successful.”
Either way, the Raptors present a lot of issues getting the ball into Embiid. Even if it’s James Harden trying to dump the ball inside, that is where a guy like Barnes will come in who has impressed as a rookie.
“When James is throwing it, it’s Scottie Barnes,” Rivers finished. “That’s a 6-foot-7 guy with a 7-foot guy, and throwing through hands is not easy. It’s just a hard thing to do so we have to be ready for that.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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