PHILADELPHIA–The Toronto Raptors took on the Philadelphia 76ers in Round 1 of the playoffs back in April of 2022 and they pushed the Sixers to Game 6 after Philadelphia took a commanding 3-0 series lead.
The Raptors were able to battle Joel Embiid and James Harden and have some success against the new star duo as they continued to grow as a tandem to help Philadelphia succeed.
The Embiid-Harden duo was fresh at the time. Harden had played only 21 games with the Sixers after arriving at the deadline from the Brooklyn Nets and the Sixers were still working things out with him. Embiid was also adjusting to having to change his style to make it mesh with Harden’s.
Now, the two of them are nearly unstoppable in the pick-and-roll and Raptors coach Nick Nurse sees a big difference.
“I think that it just seems to have just solidified much more,” Nurse said of the duo. “I just think that certainly the combinations, numbers-wise, and just trying to figure out how to guard it and stuff is difficult when you’re an opposing coach, but it just seems like they’re just I mean, that’s the word. They’re playing more solid.”
Just from watching the two of them work the pick-and-roll game, one can see that Harden and Embiid have really been able to figure it out on the floor and they are pushing themselves in order for the Sixers to make this work.
“I think they know what, really, each one of them is going to do and they just kind of do very similar output a lot of nights so there’s a consistency there,” Nurse added. “So I think it just didn’t seem as solidified last year, but it does now.”
Of course, the key to all of this is Embiid. His ability to be a three-level scorer as a 7-footer makes all the difference in the world and Nurse sees that when the big fella works from the free-throw line rather than the post.
“What’s made it hard is he makes all those shots,” Nurse added. “It’s just like one after another after another after another after another so that gets a bit discouraging when you’re like ‘Alright, he’s gonna take a perimeter shot!’, but his perimeter shooting has been so good that’s just another thing you got to worry about.”
The Raptors have historically done a good job of containing Embiid, but when throwing Harden into the mix, it makes a difference on the offensive end.
“You got to worry about him running you over and laying it in, you got to worry about him early post-up, you got to worry about each block on the post-up, you got to worry about him steamrolling down the lane on the pick-and-roll with Harden,” Nurse finished on Embiid. “Now he’s got this too and then also pick-and-pop for 3s, but the great players have all that stuff and their coaches are smart enough to put them in all those actions.”
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