Getty Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers shoots the ball as Serge Ibaka of the Toronto Raptors.
Two preseason favorites out of the Eastern Conference heading into the regular season, it only makes sense that the Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers meet to do battle in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Featuring plenty of star power on both sides of the basketball, the series features some of the biggest names in the sport.
Raptors vs. 76ers Season Series: Who Won Regular-Season Matchups?
The Toronto Raptors won the regular-season matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers, three games to one. The Raptors still finished the season series with a +15 point differential despite their loss coming in a 25 point blowout. However, the two teams haven’t met in their current iterations as the Sixers added Tobias Harris while the Raptors traded for Marc Gasol shortly after their last regular season matchup on February 5th.
Both Harris and Gasol offer entirely new dimensions to each team and it will be interesting to see how both the Raptors and Sixers take advantage of their increased lineup flexibility and versatility. In Harris, the Sixers get a reliable multi-level scorer who can be leaned on as a top option or play off of other stars. With a lineup so heavily loaded with big names, having a low usage star that is comfortable doing whatever the team needs can be incredibly valuable.
While not the same level of impact as Harris at this point in his career, the addition of Gasol allows the Raptors to run out a traditional big man and go with a slightly larger lineup. Despite his age, Gasol is still an elite scorer around the basket who can step back and knock down the deep ball, giving him tons of value to the Raptors offensively.
Philadelphia 76ers vs Toronto Raptors Playoff Series Preview
After meeting up four times during the regular season the Sixers and Raptors match up once more in a best of seven Eastern Conference Semifinal showdown. The Raptors dominated the Sixers in game one with a resounding 108-95 win at home. With game two also in Toronto, the Raptors look to hold their home court advantage while Philadelphia looks to sneak away with a win on the road and steal away home court moving forward.
Game one showed that Kawhi Leonard, when at the top of his game, is basically an unstoppable basketball robot. The Sixers didn’t look bad as much as Leonard looked great. While none of their stars had a standout game, they all at least contributed something. However, only Joel Embiid (+4) finished with a positive plus-minus, a testament to Toronto simply outplaying the Sixers across the board. Embiid poses the single biggest mismatch for Toronto and the 76ers will need stellar performances from the oft-injured big man to overcome the Raptors.
Embiid’s play down low forces elite defenders like Leonard and Pascal Siakam to focus more attention on providing help. In turn that should free up wing scorers like Butler and Harris – who both underperformed in game one – to get better looks.