Anyone who says basketball isn’t a funny game hasn’t been paying attention to these two-game series.
The Miami Heat thoroughly outclassed the Raptors in Game 1 on the weekend in Miami and then had the tables turned on them in the second game as Toronto came away with a split in the series.
The Raptors manhandled Philadelphia in the opener Wednesday night and then looked out of sorts, bordering on sloppy at times in a 112-90 loss.
“We didn’t have much effort or energy at anything,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said. “We just weren’t crisp in any area.”
It wasn’t all Toronto’s own issues in this one though that cost them.
At first glance, a night not having to deal with a smooth 7-footer with 280 pounds behind him would seem like a good thing.
And normally it would be.
But on this particular night not having the ball in the hands of the 76ers big man Joel Embiid, who sat out with some knee soreness, meant it spent more time in the hands of their little man Tyrese Maxey and that was not to Toronto’s advantage.
Maxey was dialled in Friday night making all 10 shots he attempted in the first half, including seven three-pointers for a 27-point half.
He would miss his first three shots of the second half, two of them three-pointers, but then found his second wind and helped the Sixers pull away down the stretch.
Maxey would finish with 44 points, 15-of-20 from the field and 9-of-12 from distance setting career highs in points and three-pointers made.
Nurse really didn’t want to admit that the pre-game news that Embiid was not playing affected his team.
“Something got us out of sorts,” he admitted. “I’d hate to say it was that, but I don’t really know why we weren’t ready to give a little more effort tonight.”
The Raptors were down 17 at the half and while they made a run in the third the Sixers maintained the lead at 11 going into the final frame.
Pascal Siakam remained a pain in the Sixers’ side, but his 26-point, 10-rebound night merely kept it somewhat respectable.
He certainly didn’t have a ton of help in the scoring department, outside of OG Anunoby’s 19.
Fred VanVleet had one of those can’t-hit-anything nights, going 0-for-11 from the field and 0-from-8 from behind the arc. His lone point on the night game from the free-throw line, where he made just one of three.
As uncharacteristic as that was it wasn’t even the biggest eye-opener from a normally sure-handed team. As a group, the Raptors turned the ball over 16 times in the game leading to 25 points by the Sixers.
Normally that kind of turnover game is one the Raptors put on their opponents.
Preparing for a two-headed monster in Embiid and James Harden is one thing, but Maxey’s rapid development has added another to the mix.
Take it from Nick Nurse, who was asked pre-game how he prepared defensively for a team like the Sixers.
“There’s (Embiid) for starters,” Nurse said. “Then you have a whole other list for Harden. Then you’ve got the other guys. Maxey needs a game plan, we found out.”
And that was before his 27-piont first half.
NO EMBIID
The 76ers had Joel Embiid on the questionable list to play for Friday’s game. But few really expected the Sixers to sit out their big man just five games into the season.
Turns out the Sixers have their own ideas about that as they made the decision pre-game to sit him down with some soreness in his knees.
The Sixers play again Saturday against the Bulls but head coach Doc Rivers confirmed this was not a load management thing.
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I just think every night Joel is questionable, you know,” Rivers said. “I think we should treat him like Tom Brady. Honestly, we want to make sure he feels great, early in the year every night and if it takes up to game time every night (to decide), we got to do that.”
Rivers maintained it was nothing serious that kept Embiid out.
“Just the soreness, but we take that seriously,” Rivers said. “And I think we have to.”
In Embiid’s place, Rivers decided to go small adding 6-foot-2 guard De’Anthony Melton to the starting five in place of the 7-foot, 280-pound Embiid.
NOT EVERY DAY
Mississauga-born and lottery pick Josh Primo is no longer with the San Antonio Spurs.
In a surprise move the Spurs made the decision to waive the 19-year-old shooting guard.
On the surface the moves make no sense. Primo was showing an offensive game that was only going to grow and had been spoken of in glowing terms by head coach Gregg Popovich as recently as last season.
In the release announcing the decision to waive Primo, the team included the following odd paragraph:
“The Spurs organization, including front office executives, coaching staff and players, will have no additional comments to share at this time.”
Clearly something occurred that has yet to be shared publicly.
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