As of today, all the games in the 2021-22 NBA regular season have ended, and the teams that directly advance to the playoffs in the East and West have all been released, and in the next few days, the NBA will play playoffs to determine the remaining four teams that advance to the playoffs. According to the NBA team rankings, the four teams in the Western Play-off Zone are the Timberwolves, Clippers, Pelicans, and Spurs; and the four teams in the Eastern Play-offs are the Nets, Cavaliers, Eagles and Hornets.
Today, the NBA officially announced the schedule of this season's NBA playoffs, according to the arrangement, the philadelphia 76ers, who ranked fourth in the East, are played against the Toronto Raptors, who are fifth in the East. This will be the third time in the history of the two teams that they have met in the playoffs, and the first two encounters between the two sides have fought until the last goal of the seventh second to be won or lost. In the 2019 Eastern Conference semifinals, the Raptors defeated the 76ers 4-3; in the 2001 Eastern Conference semifinals, the 76ers defeated the Raptors 4-3. The first game of the playoffs this year will take place at the 76ers' home stadium at 6 a.m. on April 17.
In this way, the two teams have a long history. This season, the 76ers have played against the Raptors four times, including a record of 1 win and 3 losses, but it is worth mentioning that in all of their games, the difference between the winners and losses is only single digits. The game the 76ers won only won by 5 points over the Raptors. In other words, it's not easy for both teams to win in the playoffs.
For the 76ers, the first round of the playoffs this season is not optimistic. There are certain hidden dangers when encountering the Raptors, which are restricted by Toronto's epidemic prevention regulations, and players who have not been vaccinated will not be able to enter the stadium. In fact, as early as April 8, after the raptors, Sebel's inability to play in the road game with the Raptors has become the consensus of the 76ers. In response, Sebel said that he only received the first dose of the vaccine, so he could not play at the home of the Raptors. "It's a bit bad, it's always sad not to be able to play and I've accepted that this could hurt my career (the fact)." Sable said.
Sebel has played in 66 games for the 76ers this season and averaged 5.7 points, 23 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.1 blocks in 25.5 minutes per game, shooting 50.0 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from three-point range. For the 76ers, what they value is Sebel's defensive ability, averaging 1.7 steals per game in third place in the league, fifteenth in the league with 1.1 blocks, 81st in the league with 107.2 defensive efficiency, and first on the team.
A good team, just offense is not enough, but also needs a strong defense to gain a foothold in the playoffs. Now the 76ers, the team already has a super scorer like Embiid, James Harden is responsible for organizing the pass, and Maxi is growing rapidly. They need players like Sable to contribute on the defensive end and solidify the team's defence.
Only now due to Toronto's epidemic prevention regulations, the 76ers' away game Sable is definitely unable to play, so if the 76ers want to cut the Raptors down in the playoffs, Harden needs to play more aggressively on the offensive end, rather than carrying out the slump of the last few games of the regular season to the end.