One of the more interesting aspects to the difficulty the Raptors find themselves in is that their resolve is not the least bit shaken.
They understand the magnitude of the task, the undeniable talent of their opponents and the somewhat dire straits they find themselves in, yet they are not the least bit fractured. They are not pointing fingers or shaking their heads with some “woe is us” mentality.
Whether they can solve their own issues or the problems presented by Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers cannot really be forever. But know this: They accept responsibility for the mess they’ve made of the first two games of their best-of-seven NBA playoff series and are looking inward to discover the necessary adjustments that will allow them to get back in the series when it resumes at the Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday night.
“At this point of the season, you got to be playing at a really high level to keep winning and beat some of these teams and that’s what it takes in the playoffs,” guard Fred VanVleet said after Monday’s Game 2 loss in Philadelphia.
“So we’ll see if we can ramp it up a little bit more, clean up (some things). Got to play a little smarter. We play hard enough, I think, in a lot of areas, but got to play harder still and play way smarter.”
It is probably that simple. The Raptors need to get more, from more players, more often. But whether that’s realistic, given the limitations of the roster right now, is debatable.
Scottie Barnes is in a walking boot and despite his optimistic assertion that he could return “maybe soon,” it’s unlikely he will. Gary Trent Jr. has been felled by some illness that he has been fighting for more than a week and having him back at 100 per cent by Wednesday is a big ask.
So, with that decimated roster, what do the Raptors need to do?
They have to defend better — the Sixers have shredded them in the first half of two straight games, rendering the final two quarters almost inconsequential — and they have to hope that some of the blistering-hot Sixers like Tobias Harris and Tyrese Maxey cool off on the road. That’s not impossible but it will take a bit more defensive discipline than the Raptors have shown.
They need to force Joel Embiid to speed up and become turnover-prone, something they have had success with in the past, but they also have to keep tabs on the other Sixers scorers. “There’s a lot of scheming for him obviously,” Nurse said. “I think there’s the same for (James) Harden. There’s the same for Maxey and then there’s game plans all over the place for them personnel wise. But … we’re doing a lot of things on Embiid for sure. He’s getting used to seeing some of them.”
Offensively, they need someone to come up with a performance for the ages. They need VanVleet, Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby to meet or exceed their own expectations and get production from a secondary source like, say, Chris Boucher or Precious Achiuwa. With a cut-back roster, an out-of-the-blue big night will help immeasurably.
“We need OG, Pascal, Freddie, but we also need Gary’s points and Scottie’s points and those guys shifting in off the bench,” Nurse said. “We’ve got our eight, nine guys who are going to play; well, they got to play. They got to contribute.”
The Raptors may have found something to exploit from the second half of Monday’s game when Anunoby had 16 of his 26 points and was dominant at times and looked comfortable attacking. While it’s true that every game evolves differently, he’s a tough cover for the Sixers.
“I think that the situation presented itself (Monday) and you are in the flow of the game, you see a guy that’s kind of going a little bit and you try to capitalize on that,” Nurse said.
But Xs and Os change night to night so to say something that worked in Game 2 is going to work in Game 3 is a bit disingenuous. What the Raptors have to do is be better overall, hope the Sixers aren’t as good as they’ve been and play with the will and fight they showed often in the regular season.
Being at home will help. Trent getting a couple of days closer to full health will help. But so will heightened toughness, desire and effort.
“This is the platform where you want to go from good to great,” VanVleet said. “You can make excuses for yourself or you can try and rise to the occasion and play better. It’s probably going to take a little bit better performances out of myself to get us over the hump.
“But the responsibility falls on us. It’s a great challenge and a great test for us and we got to step up and answer the call and I’m confident we will do that.”
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