As time wound down in the Sixers’ 112-97 win over the Toronto Raptors on Monday night, Sixers center Joel Embiid and Raptors coach Nick Nurse had a long conversation. So, what were they talking about?
having a nice chat pic.twitter.com/hUyDq0xsTH
— James Herbert (@outsidethenba) April 19, 2022
“He’s a great coach, obviously. What he’s been able to accomplish, I’ve always been a big fan,” Embiid said. “But I told him, respectfully, to stop bitching about calls because I saw what he said last game. I mean, if you’re going to triple-team somebody all game, they’re bound to get to the free-throw line.
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“Or if you’re going to push them off and try to hold them off and all that stuff, they’re bound to get to the free-throw line. So, I feel like (all the) fouls were legit and (there) probably should’ve been more.”
This is one half of the free-throw politicking that is bound to follow the Joel Embiid-James Harden 76ers in every playoff round in which they appear. Nurse has been freely criticizing the officiating for his entire stay in Philadelphia.
He did it after the Sixers’ Game 1 win, saying of Embiid, “Nobody can guard that guy if they’re just going to let him run you over time and again.”
He did it before the Sixers’ Game 2 win, stating, “There were several shots to the face, which, I don’t understand, were not reviewed.”
Nurse’s take on the late-game exchange with Embiid after Game 2 was slightly different but also couched with respect.
“He was saying to me, ‘I’m going to keep making all the free throws if you guys keep fouling me.’ And I said, ‘Well, you might have to,’ ” Nurse said. “Good player, man. I got a lot of respect for him. He’s certainly playing great here. There’s nothing there but us trying to compete against him and him trying to compete against us.”
BOX SCORE: Sixers 112, Raptors 97
The free-throw wars provide a perfect launching point into why the Sixers, who were a trendy pick to get upset in the first round, have jumped out to a convincing 2-0 series lead over Toronto. So much of this series comes down to which team takes the most advantage of its strengths while minimizing its weaknesses. And though it’s been only two games in Philadelphia, that battle has not been particularly close. The Sixers are decisively winning the areas in which they had advantages. And they have neutralized the areas the Raptors needed to win handily.
For example, take shooting free throws. It isn’t a huge surprise Nurse has harped on that subject because his team is at a huge disadvantage. The Sixers shoot more free throws than anyone in the league. And ever since they acquired Harden, they shoot more than anyone in the league.
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During the last one-third of the regular season with Harden, the Sixers’ free-throw rate was 29 made throws per 100 field-goal attempts. The league average was 20.8 made free throws, with Denver coming in second at 24.4. And on the other hand, the Raptors are an undersized, aggressive team that puts teams on the line more than the average NBA team.
Heading into the series, that was an area the Sixers probably needed to dominate. They did so in both games, but particularly in Game 2, when they went 26 of 30 from the line to Toronto’s 10 of 12.
Considering the Raptors’ lack of centers, this felt like a series in which Embiid would have a chance to play bully ball. And through two games, the level of force he has played with has stood out. In the first quarter Monday, he shot 12 free throws because he continually sprinted the floor and got deep post position.
Here, he receives a nice drop-off pass from Harden:
In this clip, he runs the floor and seals Precious Achiuwa. When he misses the shot, he gets it right back.
And here, he attacks Fred VanVleet and takes a hard fall attacking the rim. The Raptors hit the Sixers early on with physicality, and early on, it was Embiid who matched it.
“That’s part of the reason I got a few offensive fouls tonight, too,” Embiid said. “I was like, ‘Well, if you’re going to be physical, I’m going to come back with more power and make you foul me and make it more obvious if refs don’t want to call it.’ ”
Of course, the other key (and one that will get less publicity because it doesn’t involve lobbying the officials) is that the Sixers aren’t just mitigating the areas where the Raptors were supposed to win. No, the Sixers are turning the tables and beating Toronto at its own game.
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For the second consecutive game, the Sixers won the transition battle, of which Embiid was a big part. They won the rebounding battle for the second straight game as well, though just by a little this time (41 to 35).
Each of the factors carries its own significance, but here is the big one: To win this series, Toronto has to take advantage when Embiid is out of the game, just like in 2019. And not only has that not happened, but the Sixers also flipped the script on Toronto in the second quarter of Game 2. After Embiid kept the Sixers afloat with all of those free throws, the Sixers scored 23 points on 10 possessions.
As I wrote before the game, the Sixers are going to a Paul Reed-and-four-starters lineup. And that group is the one that opened the game in the second quarter. BBall Paul was a plus-12 in just five minutes, and when that happens, well, the Sixers are probably going to win.
And the Sixers are excelling with the Harden and Tyrese Maxey one-two pick-and-roll. Here, Harden finds another corner shooter attacking VanVleet after Maxey forced the switch:
And here’s Maxey getting downhill on a bungled switch. The Sixers were scoring too fast for the TNT broadcast to show any replays.
The Sixers also are getting strong contributions from the other two members of that BBall Paul lineup: Tobias Harris (20 points) has played efficient two-way basketball and is settling into his role as a key defender and off-ball 3-point shooter who also attacks closeouts. Danny Green looks as spry as he has all season, a performance that included an emphatic dunk late in the game.
We will see what happens in Game 3 in Toronto on Wednesday night. Even if the series looks to be heading one way, Scotiabank Arena has generally been a house of horrors for the Sixers. Realistically, they would need only a split to take control of the series. And if they can keep winning some of the areas in which they were supposed to struggle, that seems like a possibility.
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Until then, the free-throw wars will continue. As always, Embiid is ready to do battle.
“I think it’s all about having self-awareness, and I think (coaches) just do it because they have to, but they don’t have to actually believe it,” he said. “If you watch the clips, every single foul is a foul.”
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(Photo of Joel Embiid: Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE via Getty Images)