Three key takeaways from the Toronto Raptors’ painful loss against the Sixers

The Toronto Raptors remain winless, as they fall to 0-3 on the season

The woes of the season continue as the Toronto Raptors have yet to capture their first win of the 2020-2021 NBA campaign. In a game that the Raptors were in control of, for the most part, there were many key takeaways.

Here are three key takeaways from the Toronto Raptors’ loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.

#1: Be ready at all times

A major trait that the Raptors carry themselves with is their ability to adapt and adjust to the situation at hand. Nick Nurse isn’t a complacent coach that is afraid of changing things up. Throughout his two years being the head coach of the Raptors, he has proved his ability to adjust with tactics such as the box-and-one.

Nurse along with the coaching staff understood that having matchups in their favor would be essential in Toronto’s chances of winning. Hence why Chris Boucher didn’t receive much playing time, despite coming off a career game against the San Antonio Spurs. In order to match up with the size of Joel Embiid, the Raptors utilized Aron Baynes and Alex Len much more throughout the course of the game.

Defense has surprisingly been the big issue for the Raptors thus far. Nurse elected to prioritize that on Tuesday night by playing Stanley Johnson major minutes. Although Johnson’s stats don’t scream anything special, as he tallied 7 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals.

Johnson was able to move his feet extremely well, with sound closeouts and solid defense on Ben Simmons. Proving to be a great sign for Raptors faithful, as the depth and readiness of the bench will be a great weapon going forward with the season.