Philadelphia in the case of a 3:0 advantage, when everyone thinks they will become the first team in the East to advance in the first round, what they did not expect was to be won by the Raptors in two consecutive games in the next two games, and the Heat and Bucks in the East have already advanced, the key is that after the big score becomes 3:2, public opinion from whether they can complete the sweep at the beginning, to whether they will become the first team in history to be reversed 3:0, how did the 76ers bury this great situation, and how to deal with it next?
First, let's take a look at how the 76ers were pulled in two innings in a row, two important factors, the first is Embiid's finger injury, and the second is because the Raptors' VanVleet is out of the game due to injury.
An important reason why the 76ers were able to take the lead in the first three games was that Embiid had a very bright performance, especially in the second and third games, one bombed 31 points and 11 rebounds, one bombed 33 points and 13 rebounds, not only maintained a high offensive efficiency, but also very good control of mistakes on the court. But since his injury, Embiid's personal offensive status has been greatly reduced, 7 of 16 shots in the fourth game with 21 points and 8 rebounds, the fifth game shooting 15 of 7, three points 4 0, 20 points and 11 rebounds, compared to the second and third games, Embiid not only shot less, the shooting rate has also declined, the key is that the number of mistakes has also increased, the main reason is that injuries have affected him.
At this time, philadelphia needs other players to stand up, that is, harden who is expected by everyone, but in the fourth game, VanVleet withdrew from the game due to injury, which further tilted the balance of victory to the Raptors. From the bright side, after Van Jordan's absence, the Raptors lacked a core ball holding point, but Coach Nas also made a final attempt with the trend, simply let the front line Siakam hold the ball, the full front lineup, simple and rough body crushing, chaotic mode who holds the ball who singles the frame and the combination of shooting, changing defense and aggressive co-defense clamping to create a mistake to push the conversion of the play. This led to Harden no matter who he was facing, he did not have the advantage in size, coupled with his lack of explosive power, and the loss of shooting accuracy, Harden did not play the expected look in these two games, and even under the pressure of the Raptors' defense, the mistakes increased a little.
In the end, the raptors can pull back two innings in the past two games because they have the advantage in height advantage, the 76ers side except for Embiid a high advantage point, the rest of the opponents are basically at a disadvantage, even if the last game Sable returned to the home game, but because of his lack of offensive threat, the team's overall defense is at a disadvantage, especially in the fifth game, the Raptors scored 56 points in the 76ers box, while the 76ers only scored 36 points in the Raptors' box. So for the 76ers, if they want to end this series as soon as possible in the next game, they need to adjust the rotation of personnel, abandoning the unhelpful Sable on the offensive end to use the inside Jordan Jr. to increase the height of the lineup, which is a helpless move.
Perhaps many fans pin their hopes on Harden, but don't expect him to break out in the next game, because this is almost impossible, the loss of athleticism coupled with the decline in shooting accuracy, Harden has been impossible to return to the past, and can only hope that in the next game he can better tandem the team, less mistakes, can hit some empty three-pointers, do these is already a great help to the team.