Eastern Conference | Round 1 | (4) Philadelphia 76ers vs. (5) Toronto Raptors (PHI 3-2)

[bebopdeluxe]

Tobias Harris was playing some incredible lockdown defense man. If he can turn into a defensive stud and still give you 15 to 17 a night he becomes an incredibly great weapon

That block on Trent Jr. with a minute to go in OT was a massive play. 12 rebounds ain't too shabby, either.

[JAYZGOAT]

:o

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?s=20&t=MDqc_Sy-2toObB4w_uWDOg Shouldn’t have passéd Embiid ….

That's noth'n. The year before, the 76ers passed on Giannis... TWICE. Once for Michael Carter- Williams.

Just curious where would the process be if the Cavs made the obivous choice ….

It really wasn't that obvious. Many people were crapping on sixers for taking embiid and it didn't stop until embiid finally stepped on the court. Sixers took a shot and it worked out for them

[bebopdeluxe]

In Tobias Harris' postgame presser, he said that Drake said to him "Embiid can't play here".

Wonder if he still thinks that?

[JAYZGOAT]

Because if you can recall, many posters on here were saying sixers should have took Gordon or Exum instead. There's people with signatures on here saying embiid will never play and would be the next greg oden. So give Philly credit, they took a huge risk and it worked out for them

[Ballerhogger]

In Tobias Harris' postgame presser, he said that Drake said to him "Embiid can't play here".

Wonder if he still thinks that?

To be fair the raptors historically have owned him at home in the playoffs .

[shza]

Doc out-coaching Nurse … how’s that even possible?

Because Nurse is the most overrated coach in the league? Take away the year he was gifted a top-5 player rental (and a finals against a maimed team) and he's done way worse than Casey did. He obviously has less talent at his disposal than the Sixers here -- they were never going to win, even if they had Red Auerbach coaching. But I don't get the hype. At all.

[rocketsfan100]

Tobias Harris was playing some incredible lockdown defense man. If he can turn into a defensive stud and still give you 15 to 17 a night he becomes an incredibly great weapon

That block on Trent Jr. with a minute to go in OT was a massive play. 12 rebounds ain't too shabby, either.

Not just that he was literally owning Siakam off the dribble. Siakam could not even begin to get by him with Harris quick foot movement on defense. He really is a good player when he is switched on

[LloydFree]

:o

That's noth'n. The year before, the 76ers passed on Giannis... TWICE. Once for Michael Carter- Williams.

Just curious where would the process be if the Cavs made the obivous choice ….

It really wasn't that obvious. Many people were crapping on sixers for taking embiid and it didn't stop until embiid finally stepped on the court. Sixers took a shot and it worked out for them

Exactly. it wasn't obvious at all. There were even 76ers fans who thought Dante Exum was the safer pick
Woj even reported we were taking Dante Exum, and was visibly angry when we picked Embiid, which evidently undercut his information.

[Ballerhogger]

The raptors have 0 stars
The sixers have 2 stars and good 3rd option and some decent expensive role players like Tobias

[Sisqo]

Doc out-coaching Nurse … how’s that even possible?

Because Nurse is the most overrated coach in the league? Take away the year he was gifted a top-5 player rental (and a finals against a maimed team) and he's done way worse than Casey did. He obviously has less talent at his disposal than the Sixers here -- they were never going to win, even if they had Red Auerbach coaching. But I don't get the hype. At all.

All this shows is your not that into basketball. Countless players have commented on how great of a coach he is.
He has a team no one expected to even sniff the playoffs finishing in 5th.

No one said their winning a championship this year but they have punched well above their weight so far.

[LordCovington33]

Tobias was awful for the regular season. He has stepped it up in the playoffs. Time to trade him and Thybulle to make space for Beale in the off-season

[GeorgeMarcus]

Watch on YouTube

[LloydFree]

The raptors have 0 stars
The sixers have 2 stars and good 3rd option and some decent expensive role players like Tobias

Vanvleet didn't play in the All-star game this year? Now Maxey is better than Siakim, OG and Barnes? Hmmm.

I wonder why everyone picked the Raptors to win this series...

[G R E Y]

In Tobias Harris' postgame presser, he said that Drake said to him "Embiid can't play here".

Wonder if he still thinks that?

He's so lame.

[G R E Y]

Credit to Doc for that terrific ATO play and to the 76ers for executing it so well under pressure.

[Ballerhogger]

Tobias was awful for the regular season. He has stepped it up in the playoffs. Time to trade him and Thybulle to make space for Beale in the off-season

I wonder how beal and harden would work? And maxey ? No need trade for him

[bebopdeluxe]

Tobias was awful for the regular season. He has stepped it up in the playoffs. Time to trade him and Thybulle to make space for Beale in the off-season

I wonder how beal and harden would work? And maxey ? No need trade for him

Agree. Who wants a guy who shoots 33% from 3 the past 3 seasons?

Now, if the Sixers could find a way to get LaVine, that would be something. But, honestly, if Harris continues to play D like this, as well as growing his catch-and-shoot 3 (which he is getting batter at), there is no need to move him. He fits.

[slicedbread2]

Man what a game. Embiid is the ultimate get out of jail free card that is a 3 level scorer that can kill you from anywhere! A whole lot to dissect:

-James Harden with the high IQ move to foul Precious. Yes he fouled out and he has a history of melting down at the worse possible time, but Precious is a 60%FT shooter and he was guaranteed to miss 1 knowing the Raptors are one of the worse FT shooting teams in the league and it worked beautifully.
-Fred continues to be a numb skull who thinks he's Kyle Lowry, but isn't. A smart floor manager would've been wise to contribute in other ways to get others going, but he insisted on trying to take a bunch of 3's when the shot wasn't falling. I'm disappointed he didn't get Precious going who was 9-11 from the field and was 2/2 from 3. The dude wants a 30-35M/yr contract for his next deal and man I'd hate to be the team having to pay that out.
-Not attacking Niang when he's on the floor. He's the weak link in the chain and I don't care who has the ball, but the Raptors should've been attacking him all game long and they didn't do that.
-Giving up the corner 3. The Raptors have made a bad habit of doing this all season long and it's caught up to them as Philly has the shooters who can nail it down at will. Maxey and Harris have been killing it with Embiid drawing double teams and those 2 to their credit have taken full advantage.
-Precious did very well for a 2nd year player who's getting meaningful minutes out there. Hopefully he works on his FT shooting and becomes a 70%FT shooter next year and continues improving his 3pt shot. The BB IQ will come along with more reps and making mistakes along the way that'll teach him what to do and what not to do.
-Philly's game plan to neuter Siakam and force him to be a jump shooter has worked beautifully. Dude looked like Caspar the ghost in the 2nd half and man was it brutal. I understand if Embiid was hounding him, but Harris really held it down and did it very well.
-Tyrese Maxey AKA Max Power! Love this kid as he's been playing this season like a 10 year vet despite the fact that he's only in his 2nd year. Yes he's had hiccups along the way, but man he's fearless and aggressive. If Harden and the 76ers are smart, unleash him and let him go to work as he's been doing very well. It'll be interesting to see how he does against Miami(most likely in the 2nd round) but he's been taking advantage of the opportunity and love seeing a new face shine.
-Raptors lacking a true #1 option. To be fair very few of these dudes grow on trees and to get them you have to pay a major price. The team is basically punching above their weight and Pascal is best suited as a #2 and we'll see how Scottie develops going forward as he really looked composed his 1st game before getting hurt. Not much you can do.
-Doc Rivers being smart and calling a timeout when that Embiid iso wasn't going anywhere with 0.9 seconds left on the shot clock. Smart move and then for Embiid to nail that dagger 3 woof! I would've forced someone else to shoot that ball as Embiid was killing them.

Honestly wish game 1 and 2 was like tonight but oh well. Good job to Philly and they'll most likely sweep it on Friday.

[TrustFundBaby]

Doc out-coaching Nurse … how’s that even possible?

Because Nurse is the most overrated coach in the league? Take away the year he was gifted a top-5 player rental (and a finals against a maimed team) and he's done way worse than Casey did. He obviously has less talent at his disposal than the Sixers here -- they were never going to win, even if they had Red Auerbach coaching. But I don't get the hype. At all.

You don't know what your talking about.

He followed up the championship with a COY season where the Raptors actually won more games than the championship team did and pushed the Celtics to 7 while his star player was AWOL

This year he took a team everyone though was play in at best to the 5 seed

No coach is strategizing their way past this massive talent gap

Nurse/Spo/Kerr/Lue/Pop/Ime are all more or less the same caliber

[Black Mage]

GG to the Raptors.

Thank you Joel for restoring fun to the sports world on a day where Deebo demands a trade and Jay Wright blindsides us Alumni with his retirement. Needed a major pick me up and big man delivered. Ty.