Toronto Raptors: 3 Takeaways from win against 76ers, including a big night for big men

Stalwart Defensive Presence

From the opening tip, it appeared that the Raptors were locked in defensively. In the first quarter alone, there were already multiple high-quality defensive plays that frustrated the 76ers offense, especially when the attack went through Joel Embiid.

In one sequence, as Embiid was gathering for an easy two in the paint, Danny Green emerged from behind for a weakside block. One possession later, as Embiid is posting up, Kyle Lowry sneaks in to strip him of the ball, leading to a dunk on the other end of the floor.

This defensive prowess continued into the 2nd quarter, highlighted by Kawhi’s emphatic weakside block on Jimmy Butler.

As a consequence of this punishing defense, both Embiid (10 points) and Ben Simmons (8 points) were shells of themselves for stretches of the game shown through their stunted offensive stat lines.

It is no secret that Ben Simmons is an abysmal three-point shooter who creates most of his shots by driving into the paint. Similarly, Embiid is an absolute unit in the post and has had his way with most other big men (I’m already wondering what type of trash talk he’s got in store for his next matchup with Andre Drummond).

The Raptors were able to effectively shut off both players’ paths to the paint for most of the night and made their lives extremely difficult even when they found their way in.