5 critical Sixers plays vs. Raptors, including Kelly Oubre Jr.’s athletic bucket
The Sixers played a well-balanced game against the Raptors, snagging a win as the newcomers from the Cippers get acclimated.
Even with a shorter rotation following the James Harden trade, the Philadelphia 76ers pulled out a very solid win over the Toronto Raptors. They didn’t back do
wn but the Sixers cut off their comeback efforts to cruise to a double-digit victory.Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey were merely good, not great, in this one but did plenty of great things to help the Sixers win. Tobias Harris and Kelly Oubre Jr. stepped up, with the latter coming off of the bench following P.J. Tucker’s inclusion in the Harden trade, and Furkan Korkmaz got the crowd on its feet with some flashy highlights
Once again, there was a lot of good developments to see from the Sixers along with the occasional rough patches to smooth out. Let’s jump into the film.
5. Harris steals and scores
Getting downhill will serve Harris well. His tendency to post or face up a defender in a one-on-one dance in the paint is not conducive to consistently good results. So far this season, 15 of Harris’ 30 buckets have come from within five feet of the hoop. Nick Nurse’s focus on getting out in transition and getting to the rim has resonated with the veteran.
Harris generated his own drive later in the opening period with some good help defense. As he watched Malachi Flynn free himself from Patrick Beverley after curling around a screen, he pounced on the pass and starts a fast break. Although Toronto gets back, the paint is open for business with Maxey in the corner keeping Pascal Siakam from running right in front of the rim.
With Siakam inching closer to the outside of the paint and Jakob Poeltl backpedaling, Harris slightly hesitates to get past Poeltl for the layup. While Nurse knows he needs Embiid and Maxey to have the ball most of the time, he’s empowering guys to explore chances to make things happen themselves.
“A lot of that has to do with just the flow that we played at and the pace,” Harris said of his fast-break scores after the game, adding that Nurse “wants everybody, as soon as they get the ball off of a rebound, to go out and push it and see what you can create. Being in those opportunities are opening up new things for myself.”
4. Scrambling but not folding
Nurse’s imprints are all over the way the Sixers play, obviously, but it’s often most notable on defense when they get into scrambles. The synchronized chaos is a key trait of a Nurse-led team and, so far, Philly is no exception. This defensive sequence features what a five-man group can do when they all know where to be.
The Sixers contained the Raptors’ attempts to break the defense before the clip here starts. Embiid forces the ball back out after sliding over near the nail to cut off Siakam’s lane. De’Anthony Melton then gets hung up by a (moving) screen and recovers after Dennis Schroder tries to snake the screen. Then Harris comes over with a great double-team, Maxey recovers to his man and Siakam swings the ball to the corner to Gradey Dick with a good-looking pass midair.
Dick is a very good shooter but Embiid’s hard closeout frightened the rookie. The fellow Kansas product can already see his shot attempt going 15 rows over his head if he tries to let it fly, so he instead drops it off in the hopes that Poeltl is there. He is, but so is Melton, who rotates down to cover for Embiid after he sprints from the restricted arc to expertly contest the shot. That’s not an easy shot to contest for any player, let alone for someone whose weight is listed at 280 pounds.
The Sixers don’t get a true fast break off of the steal but still do get right into the offense. Maxey catches and goes off of a quick Embiid pass and misses the layup. But there’s a silver lining: he attempted the layup with his left hand. He attacks on the right baseline, is met at the rim by Dick and Gary Trent Jr. and adjusts to a lefty push shot that comes up short.
The fact that Maxey even took a left-handed layup is promising. Previously, when the left side of the court was open, he would go for a reverse layup on the right side because he didn’t like going up with his weak hand. Getting more comfortable finishing with either hand will fuel his accession to stardom.
3. Korkmaz seizes his moment
“I was waiting for this time,” Korkmaz said after the game. “I knew that I was gonna get the chance, but I just didn’t know when it was. It was today and I think I did a good job.”
Indeed, Korkmaz made the most of his opportunity. He said that Nurse told him to be ready to make plays — and he did. With 10 points on 4-7 shooting and three steals, he put in the work to earn playing time. His highlight-reel performance was very impressive, even on a play he didn’t get to go his way.
With the Sixers leading late and inbound, Reed goes to screen Korkmaz’s man but the Raptors don’t know who that is. Scottie Barnes is the nearest wing defender to him but he and Siakam aren’t on the same page. It looks like Barnes was going to take Harris and Siakam is looking to get his guy but he’s way too lackadaisical, leaving Korkmaz unattended. Poeltl recognizes the situation and tries to defuse it but Korkmaz is a step ahead of him.
Literally, Korkmaz takes the first steps of his drive as Poeltl finishes his closeout. Siakam is closer to the rim than Korkmaz but his long strides get him to the rim first. He shielded him away from a block by leaning his shoulder and keeping the ball away. Unfortunately for him, he just overshoots the left-handed layup.
A few minutes before this miss, Korkmaz dusts Barnes on a closeout and finishes the floater. It’s very similar to the play here where he doesn’t score. But even well-executed plays that don’t result in points can serve as an example of what Korkmaz can bring.
“I think coaching staff and players know that really well I can really make plays — like, create for my teammates, get open shots for my teammates, go downhill and make the shots,” Korkmaz said. “Every day, it’s not gonna go in. You just need to do some other stuff. I think defensively I improved so much, too. I am showing this to coaching staff, to players to get the trust. But overall, when the time comes, you’re just gonna be ready. I think today, I was ready”
