Toronto Raptors: Nick Nurse has answered all of his critics

Philadelphia Sixers Series

The Sixers were an entirely different beast, an ever-changing roster that went into the post-season with as talented a roster as the Warriors—potentially.

From the young guns of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, the improved Tobias Harris, and all-star swingman, Jimmy Butler, the Sixers were the most talented team the Raptors faced in the Eastern Conference.

After taking Game 1 comfortably, the Raptors fell two straight games thanks to two, all-star performances from Butler and Embiid, respectively.

The length was the deciding factor in those games, with Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, and Kyle Lowry struggling to find any sort of rhythm throughout the series.

For the first half of the series, Nurse was thoroughly out-coached, lacking an offensive flow, opting to play through his stars via high pick-and-roll rather than run set plays in the half-court.

To counter, the Raptors played a rare look.

After only playing a total of 13 minutes together on the court during the regular season, Nurse opted to deploy Serge Ibaka and Gasol together to strengthen their rebounding and improve their length defensively.

This look changed the complexion of the series, slowing down Simmons’ penetration, limiting Embiid’s paint touches, while winning the rebounding battle.

Nurse made some necessary adjustments, but the Raptors still needed the luck of the ball bouncing once—or four times—to move onto their second Eastern Conference Finals appearance in franchise history.