Tonight the Raptors head to Philadelphia to take on the Sixers for their second matchup of the season. Back on Nov 28th, the Raptors took game one of the season series 122-95, led by Kyle Lowry’s 24 points on 6/6 shooting from three. This game was hardly a tough matchup for the Raptors coming in as the heavy favorites against the rebuilding 76ers. The Raps will be going for the their 14th win in a row versus the Sixers, the last time losing Jan 18th, 2013 in overtime. The Raptors best player that night was Ed Davis, who would finish the game with 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists.
In their first game against each other this season, the Sixers were without their best player, rookie centre Joel Embiid. He would also miss his last game against the Detroit Pistons with right elbow inflammation, but Embiid is expected to suit up and play against the Raptors. He is still not playing back to backs, and is slowly moving off his minutes restriction, but for this game Embiid will be well rested and ready to go, last playing on December 8th.
Although he’s still only played 15 games in his career, Embiid is the clear front runner for Rookie of the Year. He’s averaging 18.2ppg, 7.6 rebounds, shooting 45% from the field, and 44% from three on close to three attempts per game. Posting these numbers within his minutes restrictions playing just 23.5 minutes per game. Listed at 7”0, Embiid is a force to deal with on both ends of the floor. Defensively he’s the anchor that protects the paint for the Sixers, and offensively Embiid poses the ability to post up with a plethora of moves, while stretching his game out to the three point line, making him a triple threat offensive weapon.
It will be interesting to see who the Raptors try and throw at Embiid in their first meeting together. With Embiid sporting a 37.3% usage percentage, it’s very likely the Raptors send multiple defenders his way. In single coverage, it will likely be Jonas Valanciunas getting his shot at taking on Embiid, because of size, being the obvious choice to defend him. Defending quicker bigs out on the perimeter has proven troublesome for Valanciunas, like we saw with Al Horford last week. With Dario Saric another perimeter player starting at power forward, it might be tough for Pascal Siakam and Valanciunas to switch defenders. Having Lucas Nogueira defend Embiid down the stretch seems like the obvious choice, but staying out of foul trouble will be a necessity for Nogueira.
One other player that the Raptors will be focusing a lot of their defensive attention on is Robert Covington (who is celebrating his 26th birthday today). Even though he is only averaging 8.8 points per game, 5.2 rebounds, with a true shooting percentage of 46%, Covington always finds a way to punish the Raptors. In the game earlier this season, Covington had one of his better scoring nights with 20 points, on 7/11 shooting, hitting 6/9 from three, where he shoots an atrocious 30% for the season. In his five total games against the Raptors he’s averaging 16.6 points, and an amazing 51% from three. DeMarre Carroll recently has looked a step quicker on defense, and his offensive game has also come around. Let’s hope the strong play of Carroll can stop this trend of Covington beating up the Raptors defense.
Even with both teams going at full strength, it’s really hard to see the Raptors losing this game. With the way the Raptors offense is rolling as one of the best in the league, and the defense starting to hit it’s stride recently, the Raptors should win this game by a decent margin. Games against the Sixers shouldn’t be taken lightly at all. Even though the 76ers might not have the depth of other teams, they are still very capable of keeping games close until the final minutes of play. The Raptors need to start the game strong, and take a big lead into halftime, as it would be nice to see Coach Casey have the ability to rest some of his starters down the stretch.
The 76ers are currently on a two game winning streak, beating both the New Orleans Pelicans, and Detroit Pistons by double digit margins. The Sixers who enter Wednesday with a 6-18 record, will be going for their first three-game winning streak since January 2nd of 2014. “The Process” is a long and tough road for any team trying to rebuild through the draft. The 76ers missed getting the number one pick a few years in a row, and the health of some of their picks has even further extended “The Process”. Now with Embiid playing at a high level, and number one pick Ben Simmons hopefully returning soon from his broken foot, the Sixers are finally starting to see some of their plan come to fruition.
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