CAMDEN, N.J.–The Philadelphia 76ers were able to run away with a pretty easy 131-111 win over the Toronto Raptors in Game 1 on Saturday to begin their postseason series. They had a lot of really positive things happen as they outrebounded Toronto and they outscored them in transition so all of that are pluses.
However, there are still ways the Sixers can improve and be better as they prepare for Game 2. As they got back to work at practice on Easter Sunday, coach Doc Rivers had some thoughts on what Philadelphia must do better moving forward.
“We did a lot of good things, obviously, and the ball went in,” said Rivers. “So that obviously makes you better, it’s always a make/miss game, but we watched 35 minutes of clips today of things we could’ve done better too so it was a lot of stuff on both ends.”
Rivers isn’t wrong about the Sixers knocking down shots. Philadelphia shot 51.2% from the floor and they were 16-for-32 from deep. Any time a team shoots like that, they are going to win games.
The Raptors shot 12-for-30 from deep, but they missed a lot of wide-open looks. Guys like Gary Trent Jr., Precious Achiuwa, and others had good looks from deep that they just missed. Toronto also got out on the break a bit in the third quarter and that is something that Rivers whats the Sixers to be aware of.
“We lost shooters way too many times,” he added. “I thought their transition in the third quarter was starting to hurt us, their pace. I thought our execution in the third wavered and then it’s gonna be something every night, but our spacing every night has to be great and when we did it with pace, we were good. When we didn’t, we were not. There’s things that we saw that we can be better for sure.”
Game 2 from the Wells Fargo Center is set for 7:30 p.m. EDT on Monday.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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