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

[sixers4real]

One thing I know for sure, it’ll be better to enjoy family and stay away from this forum when Sixers lose game(s) in this series.

[UnbelievablyRAW]

Can def see Embiid drop 40 in game 1. Raptors winning depends on if Freds knee is okay and if Gary's shot shows up. I expect a crap series from Harden unless he gets the stepback going. Don't think he can really beat our guys 1on1 getting to the rim unless the refs start gifting calls.

[sycammer]

well for the raptors, this was a development year, no matter how this series turns out, the season is already a success.

[SelfishPlayer]

Can def see Embiid drop 40 in game 1. Raptors winning depends on if Freds knee is okay and if Gary's shot shows up. I expect a crap series from Harden unless he gets the stepback going. Don't think he can really beat our guys 1on1 getting to the rim unless the refs start gifting calls.

James Harden has a career points per game average of 26.7 against the Raptors. Expect him to dominate.

[SelfishPlayer]

well for the raptors, this was a development year, no matter how this series turns out, the season is already a success.

Developmental year? Siakam, FVV, OG, Trent, and Young are all well paid vets. The Raptors aren't a developmental team with a "future." The Raps are a treadmill team hoping to develop a superstar and/or acquire one through trade. Signing a superstar through free agency is probably not an option with all things being considered.

[UnbelievablyRAW]

Can def see Embiid drop 40 in game 1. Raptors winning depends on if Freds knee is okay and if Gary's shot shows up. I expect a crap series from Harden unless he gets the stepback going. Don't think he can really beat our guys 1on1 getting to the rim unless the refs start gifting calls.

James Harden has a career points per game average of 26.7 against the Raptors. Expect him to dominate.

His career averages vs how he's been since returning from this hamstring thing in Philly are two different things.

With Philly he averages

21/10.5/7 on 40/32/89 splits. Against the Raptors with Philly he put up:

March 20: 38 mins, 17/8/9 on 41/0/70
April 7: 39 mins, 13/15/4 on 25/25/100

From the eye test he gets nothing easy and his only real looks are with the stepback 3. Can't really beat guys 1on1 in iso to the rim to get clean looks. Things can change but 21 game sample size with Philly isn't promising

[SelfishPlayer]

One thing you can hang your hat on is the ability of the Raptors to defend Embiid.

5 of Embiid's 11 worst games as a pro are against the Raptors. The stats about his +90 is great. But he is shooting 42% in the regular season for his career and 37% in the playoff's. I will take those numbers.

Sixer's fans are happy to counter with how Toronto will defend Embiid. But how is Philly going to counter Barnes and OG....the 4th and 5th scoring options in the starting lineup? Philly has to defend and don't be surprised if Toronto targets whoever Harden is defending.

OG averages 9.2 PPG in the playoffs. What is there to defend? He's a role player. Playoff style basketball isn't kind to this sort of player from a PPG perspective. Expect for him to produce less points than he does in the regular season. You can bank on that more than Embiid playing below average against the Raptors. Now Embiid can play off of Harden who carries a 26.7 career PPG against the Raptors.

[Rawahl]

well for the raptors, this was a development year, no matter how this series turns out, the season is already a success.

Developmental year? Siakam, FVV, OG, Trent, and Young are all well paid vets. The Raptors aren't a developmental team with a "future." The Raps are a treadmill team hoping to develop a superstar and/or acquire one through trade. Signing a superstar through free agency is probably not an option with all things being considered.

Sorry, I have to disagree. OG is just 24, Trent 22, so no, they are not vets. The Raps are quite a young team, so they are very inconsistent from times to times. They have some young prospect that was brought along this season (Achiuwa and Barnes over all), so, yes, it was a development year (and a good one).

[sixers4real]

Can def see Embiid drop 40 in game 1. Raptors winning depends on if Freds knee is okay and if Gary's shot shows up. I expect a crap series from Harden unless he gets the stepback going. Don't think he can really beat our guys 1on1 getting to the rim unless the refs start gifting calls.

James Harden has a career points per game average of 26.7 against the Raptors. Expect him to dominate.

His career averages vs how he's been since returning from this hamstring thing in Philly are two different things.

With Philly he averages

21/10.5/7 on 40/32/89 splits. Against the Raptors with Philly he put up:

March 20: 38 mins, 17/8/9 on 41/0/70
April 7: 39 mins, 13/15/4 on 25/25/100

From the eye test he gets nothing easy and his only real looks are with the stepback 3. Can't really beat guys 1on1 in iso to the rim to get clean looks. Things can change but 21 game sample size with Philly isn't promising

Well, yeah, Harden is not the scorer he used to be, but when you mention shooting splits, mention TS also, because players foul him a lot.
Hardens TS with Philly is .601, which is very good.

If Harden puts up the RS (21 games) stats against Raptors, we are okay.
21 PPG, 10.5 APG, 7.1 RPG on a TS .601

[SelfishPlayer]

Can def see Embiid drop 40 in game 1. Raptors winning depends on if Freds knee is okay and if Gary's shot shows up. I expect a crap series from Harden unless he gets the stepback going. Don't think he can really beat our guys 1on1 getting to the rim unless the refs start gifting calls.

James Harden has a career points per game average of 26.7 against the Raptors. Expect him to dominate.

His career averages vs how he's been since returning from this hamstring thing in Philly are two different things.

With Philly he averages

21/10.5/7 on 40/32/89 splits. Against the Raptors with Philly he put up:

March 20: 38 mins, 17/8/9 on 41/0/70
April 7: 39 mins, 13/15/4 on 25/25/100

From the eye test he gets nothing easy and his only real looks are with the stepback 3. Can't really beat guys 1on1 in iso to the rim to get clean looks. Things can change but 21 game sample size with Philly isn't promising

The beauty of the playoffs is that both teams get to game plan. Playing hard isn't enough, in the playoffs everyone plays hard. Harden will be who he has been throughout his career. There isn't much of a benefit for him dominating down the stretch of the season with new teammates. He understands how to pace himself and fit in giving guys confidence, he did it in Brooklyn. He's still a guy that can drop 40 instead of the Houston version that needed to do so.

[WaltFrazier]

Read on Twitter

boo !

Yeah one of those 'you can see it real time metrics'. Honestly a lot had to do with the fact that Greg Monroe was also terrible.

OT, in the Ramona Shelburne piece she said Simmons was in great physical shape but as soon as he got to Nets he suddenly wasn't ready to play and still hasn't

[SelfishPlayer]

well for the raptors, this was a development year, no matter how this series turns out, the season is already a success.

Developmental year? Siakam, FVV, OG, Trent, and Young are all well paid vets. The Raptors aren't a developmental team with a "future." The Raps are a treadmill team hoping to develop a superstar and/or acquire one through trade. Signing a superstar through free agency is probably not an option with all things being considered.

Sorry, I have to disagree. OG is just 24, Trent 22, so no, they are not vets. The Raps are quite a young team, so they are very inconsistent from times to times. They have some young prospect that was brought along this season (Achiuwa and Barnes over all), so, yes, it was a development year (and a good one).

OG is definitely a vet, he's on his second contract and five years in.

[Perseus1966]

I dont believe Toronto can play better defense but i think ,Atsua and Barnes will understand play offs are different monster
76 ers in 6

[rilamann]

This series is a toss up, but I am leaning a bit more towards the team that doesn't have James Harden and Doc Rivers.

[UnbelievablyRAW]

James Harden has a career points per game average of 26.7 against the Raptors. Expect him to dominate.

His career averages vs how he's been since returning from this hamstring thing in Philly are two different things.

With Philly he averages

21/10.5/7 on 40/32/89 splits. Against the Raptors with Philly he put up:

March 20: 38 mins, 17/8/9 on 41/0/70
April 7: 39 mins, 13/15/4 on 25/25/100

From the eye test he gets nothing easy and his only real looks are with the stepback 3. Can't really beat guys 1on1 in iso to the rim to get clean looks. Things can change but 21 game sample size with Philly isn't promising

Well, yeah, Harden is not the scorer he used to be, but when you mention shooting splits, mention TS also, because players foul him a lot.
Hardens TS with Philly is .601, which is very good.

If Harden puts up the RS (21 games) stats against Raptors, we are okay.
21 PPG, 10.5 APG, 7.1 RPG on a TS .601

I'm not sure he's going to draw fouls at the same rate if he can't effectively isolate and get into the lane the same way against the Raptors switching defense. His stepback 3 has not been falling because he's not getting enough separation on it to get clean looks (lowest 3pt% in years) and his first step isn't as good as it has been.

In both Raptor games he had bad shooting nights in the RS, don't think he's going to be able to rely more on foul drawing in the playoffs

[rilamann]

My prediction: That ''Sixers look scary'' thread after Harden's Sixer debut, where Sixers fans and Harden fan boys scoffed at anyone who didn't think the Sixers were a lock to win the east will get get bumped for the lols in about 2 weeks.

[XTC]

This IMO is going to be a career defining playoff run for Harden. If he flames out, his legacy takes a massive hit.

This may sound weird considering how much he gets paid, but James Harden is the x-factor. If he plays well they move on, if he flops so does Philly.

On the same note GTJ + OG are going to be huge this series. If OG is injury free and he locks up Harden, he's going to cement himself on the ALL NBA Defensive Team next season. If GTJ's shot is on he's honestly going to be looked at as one of the premier young guards in the league similar to Herro.

Then there is Siakam who you know is going to want to shed his label from the 2020 Playoffs. Embiid is also going to be hungry considering how awful he did in 2019 vs Toronto (crying meme)... so what I'm trying to say is who knows how this series goes

So many variables in this series, I could honestly see it going either way.

[UnbelievablyRAW]

James Harden has a career points per game average of 26.7 against the Raptors. Expect him to dominate.

His career averages vs how he's been since returning from this hamstring thing in Philly are two different things.

With Philly he averages

21/10.5/7 on 40/32/89 splits. Against the Raptors with Philly he put up:

March 20: 38 mins, 17/8/9 on 41/0/70
April 7: 39 mins, 13/15/4 on 25/25/100

From the eye test he gets nothing easy and his only real looks are with the stepback 3. Can't really beat guys 1on1 in iso to the rim to get clean looks. Things can change but 21 game sample size with Philly isn't promising

The beauty of the playoffs is that both teams get to game plan. Playing hard isn't enough, in the playoffs everyone plays hard. Harden will be who he has been throughout his career. There isn't much of a benefit for him dominating down the stretch of the season with new teammates. He understands how to pace himself and fit in giving guys confidence, he did it in Brooklyn. He's still a guy that can drop 40 instead of the Houston version that needed to do so.

Well on point 1, I trust Doc the least out of any of the top 4-5 playoff teams to gameplan that can't be countered. His playoff track record of not making enough adjustment shows

On point 2, we'd have to wait and see. Don't think Harden purposefully puts up bad shooting nights just because its the RS. He doesn't look like the same guy we've seen even early last year on the Nets. His shooting splits are low across the board this year other than his FT% (which props up his TS% from the fouls he gets)

If past trends hold true, his FTr will drop in the playoffs with a tighter whistle so he's going to need to rely more on his shot creation to create opportunities to score for himself and create for others. I like the Raptors chances against this version of Harden

[rilamann]

Maybe the Sixers still win the series because they have the best player in the series. But Nick Nurse vs Doc Rivers is going to be comical.

[God Squad]

I like being the underdog with upset capability.