Duffman100 wrote:Dude is legit. I gave the 76ers grief for not trading him for Lowry but I can admit I was wrong.
Maxey is going to be a problem.
So...in the spirit of peace (and talking about the game):
It is clear that Nick Nurse has committed to doubling Embiid and selling out to take away the two-man game when Embiid and Harden are at the nail. The proper response to that was for the Sixers to take advantage of the Raptors bending their defense to stop that two-man game by letting Maxey go into full-blown attack mode. For tonight, that seemed to have worked. Harris even did some nice eating (26 points). I can tell you that many Sixers fans are SHOCKED that Doc actually had a gameplan that worked.
Nurse is a really good coach, so I would expect that they will have to make some adjustments to stay more at home so Maxey can't go off. The Raptors will have to choose to either take away the Embiid/Harden two-man game, or stop doubling Embiid on the wing and leave themselves open to the swing-swing. Embiid is also getting better at handling the Raptors double-teams - tonight was the first game I can remember against the Raptors where he did not have a turnover.
The Sixers gameplan was great. If I were Nurse, you have to play more straight-up...and you have to keep doubling Embiid...so you probably take your chances with Harden - which may not be the worst choice. Harden shot 5-for-15, and frequently came up empty on his drives. He did hit a few 3's tonight, which as a Sixers fan was encouraging. However, I think if I am Nurse, I take my chances and see if Harden can beat my defense. The SIxers also held their own on the boards, and kept their turnovers down...which forced the Raptors and their 26th ranked offense to generate offense in the halfcourt. To their credit, they were actually pretty good. The Sixers were just freaking unreal.
This is going to be a long series.