This article is a translation of Sports News reporter Scott Rafferty and does not represent the views of translators and platforms.
Before Sunday's game against the Knicks, the Raptors knew they would lock in a fifth-place spot in the East. What remains undetermined is which team they will face in the first round.
After the Celtics beat the Grizzlies, their opponents were determined: The Toronto Raptors will face the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the 2022 NBA playoffs.
The Raptors have played the 76ers four times this season and have a record of 3 wins and 1 loss. It's worth noting that the four-game difference between the two teams is in single digits: the Raptors won three games with 6, 2 and 5 points, respectively, while the 76ers won the game with 5 points.
We're sure to get more news before this series starts. Here are five questions that come to my mind right away:
1. The Raptors need to consider how to defend Embiid, and Embiid also needs to deal with the Raptors' defense
Throughout the season, Embiid has been one of the front-runners for the MVP. With Alphabet absent from the Bucks' final game of the season, Embiid took the top score with an average of 30.6 points per game, a historic achievement in many ways.
No one has been able to score as many points on the inside as Embiid, whose shooting ability has improved tremendously over the past few seasons. Embiid deliberately imitated Kobe Bryant's footsteps and shooting moves in training, and also had Kobe's shadow in his game.
While Embiid has evolved to an unstoppable degree, the Raptors have done a better job of defending him than most teams. Embiid has played against the Raptors 17 times in his career (excluding the playoffs) so far, averaging 21.3 points per game and shooting 42.2 percent from the field. Only the Grizzlies have done a better job than the Raptors in limiting Embiid's scoring; only the Grizzlies and Nuggets have done better than the Raptors in limiting Embiid's shooting percentage.
The Raptors have enough heights to deal with Embiid, and they don't shy away from physical confrontation when facing Embiid. As Embiid explained on Zach Lowe's podcast last season: "The Raptors are the only team that doesn't let me get the ball. Every time we play against them, as long as the ball is in the air, they have three people stuck to me and will never leave me alone. ”
2. Will Harden do well in the playoffs?
The 76ers made a win-win operation at the trade deadline, and they got James Harden. Harden got off to a good start with the 76ers, but his performances have fluctuated since then. While he can still deliver a large number of assists (averaging 10.3 per game), he still doesn't seem to be able to recover his three-point shooting skill pack, and his offensive finish under the basket is not so efficient.
Harden's first four games since joining the 76ers averaged 26.8 points, 12 assists, 7.5 rebounds, 2.8 turnovers, 59.2 percent from the field, 50 percent from three-point range and 90.2 percent from the free throw line.
Harden averaged 19.7 points, 10.1 assists, 7 rebounds, 3.6 turnovers, 36.3 percent from the field, 29.1 percent from three-point range and 89 percent from the free throw line in the last 17 games with the 76ers.
The Raptors' outside line did a good job defending Harden, contributing 15 assists in the Raptors' victory over the 76ers on April 7, but he scored just 13 points on 3-of-12 shooting. Scotty Barnes defended Harden, and Siakam, Trent and Achuva all spent the same amount of time defending Harden.
The 76ers know the Raptors will be aggressive when defending Embiid, so Harden has to step up and do more to help the team out of the first round.
3. This is Siakam's chance for revenge
Do you know who performed best in the win over the 76ers on April 7? Pascal-Siakam, of course!
In 37 minutes of playing, Siakam had 37 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists, his second triple-double of the season. Importantly, he played several key offenses in the game, especially against Embiid's defence when he remained tough.
You know, in the 2019 playoffs, although the Raptors eventually won the series, Embiid really caused him a lot of trouble when defending Siakam. At that time, Embiid only needed to retreat to the basket when defending Siakam, and Siakam, who had the space to shoot, did not dare to shoot. According to NBA statistics, Siakam,D.P. Embiid's Siakam shot 31.1 percent of the way from 45 in that series; 4-of-18 from three-point range, shooting 22.2 percent. In the end, Siakam scored just 39 points in a series.
Since then, Siakam has made great progress. But again against Embiid, can he create trouble for his opponents? We'll see.
4. Can the Raptors expect VanVleet and Anunoby to return?
The Raptors locked up the playoffs with two key players injured.
The first is Fred Van Vleet, who has been suffering from a knee injury for the past few months. After the Raptors earned a place in the playoffs, VanVleet talked about how important the six-day break between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs was for him.
VanVleet said: "As a player, you have to make some decisions. You'll have to look at the schedule and the team's rankings and weigh everything before you decide. Directly speaking, it's whether we can get a playoff spot directly and whether we can avoid the playoffs. Because not playing the play-offs means we can have 6 days off, otherwise we don't know what awaits us. This is definitely one of the important factors influencing my decision-making process. You have to weigh everything to see which way is best, and that's how I make my decision. Then, decide whether to play or not. You know, the nightly races haven't been going well all the time, but we've played really well over the last few weeks. ”
The second was Anunoby, who suffered a finger fracture after the All-Star Break and missed four of the last five games of the season due to a right quadriceps contusion. His defense will be crucial in this series, whether it's one-on-one defense of Harden or assisting defense to put pressure on Embiid, Anunoby can help the Raptors tremendously.
The Raptors didn't have enough bench depth, and they really needEd VanVleet and Anunoby to return from injury.
5. It will be a series of evenly matched matches
There's one more thing we haven't discussed yet: When the 76ers traveled to Toronto in their final game of the season, Mattis Sable wasn't eligible to play. If he can't play the playoffs in Toronto, the 76ers will lose their best outside defender in three of seven games.
Sable can't play in Toronto, which makes an already unpredictable series even more unpredictable.
By Scott Rafferty
Compiler: Former lord of the city