Eastern Conference | Round 1 | (4) Philadelphia 76ers vs. (5) Toronto Raptors

[nikster]

Good bait Sixers4real, You caught 1! Your better at trolling then raptors fans..

lol lol lol.

Thanks for making it more obvious.

Check mark:
• Raptors fans say they favorites in this series - check
• When me (Sixers fan) say no excuse if the Raptors lose because they are healthy, fans come here and say “hold on, Sixers are favs” - check

That has been kinda the general Raptors fan MO so far. Incredibly intense discussions like 'Sixers are weak for these 12 reasons! we're just the better overall team!' and then also 'relax everyone, here are 12 chill reasons why we don't care if we lose.' Records are similar, Raptors closed the season better, Nurse is Nurse and Doc is Doc, Siakam's playing great, odds aren't that great for the Sixers, etc. Make the leap Raptors fans, just say 'we can beat you and we're gonna believe in that, let's strap in.'

I agree there is some hypocrisy but I think there are some legit reasons there is more pressure on Philly. Theyve got 2 MVPs, one who has yet to make it out the 2nd round and another who is getting older with big questions around his playoff performance in pressure situations, Doc trying to fight off his label as a bad coach, and pre season expectations were wildly different.

That said I think Raps are the better team, Raps in 6.

[tdot_steel]

The best preview of the series in a national newspaper

The second-most intriguing series of all four in the Eastern Conference. The Philadelphia 76ers are bleeding. They have the worst transition defense in the NBA since James Harden arrived and they just don’t play well against good teams.

The Raptors have Pascal Siakam who is playing the best basketball of his career. However, he struggled badly in his past playoff performances. He may have turned a corner this year, but I can’t forget him seeing footsteps when they won it all with Kawhi Leonard. I’ll take the Sixers to win this one, though I’m not sure how much further they get.

The winner of this series moves to face the number one seeded Miami Heat.

Round one series prediction: 76ers win in 6 games

[LarrySeinfeld]

lol lol lol.

Thanks for making it more obvious.

Check mark:
• Raptors fans say they favorites in this series - check
• When me (Sixers fan) say no excuse if the Raptors lose because they are healthy, fans come here and say “hold on, Sixers are favs” - check

Your almost a pro.. almost. Raps fans taught you well

its in his head. he probably came from the Raptors forum reading the morning news before he comes to read this lol

Raptors fans own a neighbourhood the size of fishtown with the amount of real estate they have in his head

RealtyGM*

lol lol lol

[LarrySeinfeld]

Good bait Sixers4real, You caught 1! Your better at trolling then raptors fans..

lol lol lol.

Thanks for making it more obvious.

Check mark:
• Raptors fans say they favorites in this series - check
• When me (Sixers fan) say no excuse if the Raptors lose because they are healthy, fans come here and say “hold on, Sixers are favs” - check

That has been kinda the general Raptors fan MO so far. Incredibly intense discussions like 'Sixers are weak for these 12 reasons! we're just the better overall team!' and then also 'relax everyone, here are 12 chill reasons why we don't care if we lose.' Records are similar, Raptors closed the season better, Nurse is Nurse and Doc is Doc, Siakam's playing great, odds aren't that great for the Sixers, etc. Make the leap Raptors fans, just say 'we can beat you and we're gonna believe in that, let's strap in.'

Acres upon acres

[Saciid11]

Raptors have zero pressure and I like it ... this is winnable series for my Raptors who have been on a tear since the All Star weekend. What Masai & Nurse have built in Toronto is especial, a 2000's Spurs like organization & system. I would not be suprised if Raps make deep playoff run.

[prelude00]

Good bait Sixers4real, You caught 1! Your better at trolling then raptors fans..

lol lol lol.

Thanks for making it more obvious.

Check mark:
• Raptors fans say they favorites in this series - check
• When me (Sixers fan) say no excuse if the Raptors lose because they are healthy, fans come here and say “hold on, Sixers are favs” - check

That has been kinda the general Raptors fan MO so far. Incredibly intense discussions like 'Sixers are weak for these 12 reasons! we're just the better overall team!' and then also 'relax everyone, here are 12 chill reasons why we don't care if we lose.' Records are similar, Raptors closed the season better, Nurse is Nurse and Doc is Doc, Siakam's playing great, odds aren't that great for the Sixers, etc. Make the leap Raptors fans, just say 'we can beat you and we're gonna believe in that, let's strap in.'

Raps got this series. Gonna have cardboard cutouts of Marc Gasol behind the sixers bench in Toronto just for Embiid

Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk

[coopboii]

Sixers in 6

[Yuri Vaultin]

Not gonna lie... there's a part of me that wants to see Philly go up 3-1 just so we get to watch the annual Doc Rivers' catastrophic coaching collapse as the Raps win in 7.

[adubmac]

As a Raptors fan, I just don't understand all of the optimism for Toronto. In the playoffs where everyone gives maximum effort and minutes, the best players usually make the difference and Philly has the top 2 talents in the series, by a wide margin.

The Raptors have already exceeded all preseason expectations, but to expect that trend to continue is just asking for disappointment. The future is bright for Toronto, but the present belongs to the 76ers, at least in round one.

[Jabroni Lames]

Sixers in 6 in The Six.

[SFour]

if Embiid and Harden can play like superstars then you have to take them, that's just how things go in the playoffs as Raptors fans learned in 2019 with Kawhi....but if Embiid continues to struggle against the Raptors defense and Harden still looks washed then it's going to be a long series for them.

[pingpongrac]

As a Raptors fan, I just don't understand all of the optimism for Toronto. In the playoffs where everyone gives maximum effort and minutes, the best players usually make the difference and Philly has the top 2 talents in the series, by a wide margin.

The Raptors have already exceeded all preseason expectations, but to expect that trend to continue is just asking for disappointment. The future is bright for Toronto, but the present belongs to the 76ers, at least in round one.

There are a lot of reasons for optimism as a Raptors fan though. The team went 33-17 in the last 50 games and the defence has been trending in the right direction (25th in first 20 games, 8th in the next 20 games, 13th in the next 20 games, 3rd in the last 22 games) while the offence has consistently been in the middle of the pack. They've been really good when their top 5 players are available (14-7) and they'll be healthy to start the series at least. A bunch of players are also playing much better as of late; Achiuwa is averaging 12/6 on 55 TS%, Boucher is averaging 10/7 on 57 TS% and Barnes is averaging 17/8/4 on 58 TS% all post-ASB while Siakam has been playing at a superstar level most of the season (24/9/6 on 57 TS% since December 1st).

This isn't the same Harden from 2-3 years ago either. He's still an elite offensive player, but he's not taking over games near as frequently nowadays. In the last 2 seasons, he scored 30+ points in just 22 games after averaging ~30 PPG for most of his career in Houston. His lack of burst is noticeable and his patented step-back three has not been very effective. Siakam has pretty clearly been the better player this season. It's just a matter of whether or not Harden suddenly turns back the clock or not.

[LoveMyRaps]

Watch on YouTube

All votes for Philly.

[greekbuck34]

I expect a blowout win for the Sixers. Game 1 Raptors are as bad as game 1 Bucks. After game 1, Nurse will make some proper adjustments, all the shots from Philly will become 5 times more difficult, each game will be close in the 4th quarter and Doc Rivers with Harden and Embiid will start choking either by bad foul baiting, turning the ball over out of aggressive double teams or attempting terrible contested jumpshots without ball movement.

[BenoUdrihFTL]

As much as I'd enjoy seeing Philly getting brutally besmirched, I don't think it's happening this round. I'll take Sixers in 6 and that's with Harden playing like an allstar instead of a superstar

[KIRAG]

In before the storm.

Spoiler:

[Ckay]

Read on Twitter

[PistolPeteJR]

I really think Toronto wins this in 7, and I’m not sure I’m letting my emotions dictate here.

[Yuri Vaultin]

Good luck Philly and 76er fans. May the best team win.

Go Raptors!

[Duffman100]

As much as I'd enjoy seeing Philly getting brutally besmirched, I don't think it's happening this round. I'll take Sixers in 6 and that's with Harden playing like an allstar instead of a superstar

That's all they really need from Harden.