For this year’s Toronto Raptors to succeed late in the playoffs, they will need to be able to score against length. Huge defenses troubled them last year in the playoffs, and this year, it seems like several teams have doubled down on size.
If Toronto makes it to the Finals, both Los Angeles teams have multiple defenders in the front-court who can alter games defensively. For Toronto to even make it out of the east, the Milwaukee Bucks await and start a pair of seven-footers. Oh, and the East also sports Toronto’s fallen foe from the night of November 25, the Philadelphia 76ers.
The 76ers are maybe the biggest team in the league. Ben Simmons, Al Horford, and Joel Embiid are certified monsters on defense. Embiid finished a +90 in a seven-game series the Raptors won, and then Philadelphia went out and got a back-up center in Horford who can offer most of the same benefits on the defensive end. If Toronto is going to miraculously follow up on last year’s championship, they’ll need to top a 76ers team that doubled down on some of its strengths.
For one night at least, Toronto did.
In the loudest, most intense game yet of Toronto’s regular season, the Raptors won 101-96. The crowd was potentially as loud as it has been since the last time the Raptors played the Sixers.
Toronto completely changed their offensive approach from their playoff series, scheming new ways to score against the Sixers’ defense. In the playoffs, against a great defense in Philadelphia, the Raptors valued every possession, worked hard for good shots, and tried to play patiently. Seems logical.
The Raptors inverted that approach on Monday night. They decided that against a defense as taxing as Philadelphia’s, you aren’t always going to find a great shot. Usually, the first good look that presents itself is the best shot you’ll find. So Toronto played fast, shooting plenty of early-clock attempts. They tried, on the other hand, to force Philadelphia into long clock scenarios by gumming up the lane and doubling Joel Embiid early. Philadelphia’s possessions were longer than Toronto’s by more than a second, on average, which is the largest gap of any of Toronto’s games so far. Sometimes the Raptors used the full clock, but that was counter to the plan. They passed the ball rarely, shooting often after one-pass or two-pass possessions. Passes are really just opportunities for turnovers, after all.
“One [goal] was to try to get up a high volume of 3s tonight,” said Nurse after the game. “To do that, you kind of have to say, let’s cut it loose. The first open 3 you get, you take it.”
The Raptors bet that aesthetically pleasing basketball was, for one night, antithetical to winning basketball. Their gamble paid off.
“I’m not trying to get caught up in what it looks like,” said Nurse after the game. “We’re playing composed and working for decent shots.”
And it worked. Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam — two of the players most bothered by Philadelphia’s length in the playoff series — combined to shoot 18-of-34 from the floor for 49 points. They were stellar and seemed completely unbothered by Philadelphia’s size. Siakam’s new pull-up jump-shot meant he had to be guarded by someone other than Embiid, and VanVleet got the rim with ease, shooting 4-of-6 there. Siakam’s offensive rating was 115.2, and VanVleet’s was 111.0. Toronto’s on the season is only 110.3, so even against a defense as vaunted as the Sixers, when VanVleet and Siakam were in the game, Toronto played good offense.
Late, when Toronto was down by five with three minutes remaining, the team turned to a unique set. Siakam isolated from the wing with the other four Raptors on the weak side. Siakam had as much space as possibly could be created. He drew a second defender and immediately hit Gasol on the elbow, who kicked to VanVleet for a triple. Two passes, three points.
Later, with Toronto down by two and one minute remaining, Siakam isolated against Al Horford, drew Joel Embiid in the paint, and finished over both with the foul. His made free throw would be the game-winning point. Zero passes, one win.
There were other lessons Toronto applied that they learned in their seven-game slog against Philly in the playoffs. For one, the Raptors learned that you have to match size with size.
“One thing is you’ve got to play a little bigger,” said Nurse before the game. “Sometimes you’re gonna play a [shooting guard], a [small forward], a [power forward], that are all bigger-sized rather than going a little smaller and quicker just to be able to look them in the eye, to be able to rebound with them, to be able to guard post-ups.”
At times, the Raptors were downright massive. Partially because of injury and foul trouble, and partially because of situational necessity, the Raptors multiple times used lineups that included Gasol, Siakam, Hollis-Jefferson, and Anunoby. Those lineups bruised the Sixers on defense.
Playing plenty of size was a learned lesson from the playoff series, where a dual-center frontcourt of Serge Ibaka and Gasol were brilliant for Toronto. Toronto ran with another lesson that they learned in the playoffs: tie Marc Gasol to Joel Embiid. Embiid, one of the premier offensive weapons in the league, finished with zero points in 32 minutes of play. Gasol visibly bothered him.
“Defensively they’re everywhere,” said Embiid after the game. “They’re so long and they make sure they pack the paint.”
So size helped, and Gasol helped a whole lot. Accepting that great is the enemy of the good, at least when it comes to finding good shots against teams like the Sixers, was another positive. Missing incredible talents like Kyle Lowry, Serge Ibaka, and, yes, Kawhi Leonard, against the 76ers, Toronto managed to beat a championship contender in the Sixers. It took a series of fortuitous lessons.
Toronto proved yet again that it has the tools to compete with the best in the NBA. No matter who’s healthy, the Raptors are equipped to tangle with anyone. They can play pretty, and they can play ugly, but they can always win. That’s valuable. Equally valuable is being able to beat teams with length.
Over the last two seasons, the Raptors have learned both what it is to be a successful regular season team without playoff success and what it is to win the whole damn thing. Whether VanVleet and Siakam can continue to succeed against length in the playoffs will help determine whether this year is more 2017-18 or more 2018-19. With Nick Nurse at the helm scripting the games like Robert Ford, Toronto’s got a pretty good shot.
