The NBA Playoffs continue on Monday night live on Sky Sports as the Toronto Raptors look to level the series against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 2, live on Sky Sports Arena & Main Event from 12.30am
Monday 18 April 2022 14:57, UK
The NBA Playoffs always presents all sorts of hurdles for teams to overcome and if you want to win it all then a special kind of resilience is needed.
Nick Nurse and the Toronto Raptors know that as well as anyone, having lifted the Larry O'Brien trophy in 2019, but this year a lot is being thrown at him and his team.
The Raptors head coach was severely annoyed by the officiating in Game 1 in Philadelphia and felt the officials gave the opposition, and Joel Embiid in particular, the benefit of the whistle more often that not.
Add to that the fact Toronto will likely have to do without three of its key players in Scottie Barnes, Gary Trent Jr. and Thaddeus Young in Game 2 and a tricky assignment at Wells Fargo Center on Monday night - live on Sky Sports Arena and Main Event from 12.30am - is now looking even tougher.
The 76ers defeated the Raptors comprehensively 131-111 in the last matchup with Tyrese Maxey blitzing the Toronto defense with 38 points on his NBA Playoffs debut.
During Saturday's clash, Embiid took 11 free throws and the Raptors had both Fred VanVleet and Chris Boucher foul out. Toronto did a good job of limiting Embiid but his ability to draw fouls and what Nurse perceived as a failure to call them on the Sixers center contributed to him scoring 19 points despite going just 5 of 15 from the field.
"We gotta believe that if we're legal defensively, that they're going to call those," the MVP candidate said. "We had a couple times where we beat [Embiid] to the spot and he bowled us right over and they just let them lay it in.
"I don't care if you're 5-foot-11 and 160 pounds, if you beat him to the spot and he runs you over, it's a foul. I thought he threw three or four elbows to the face. He got called for one.
"If we're legal defensively, then we've got to have them call it or we don't have a chance. Period. Nobody can guard that guy if they're just going to let him run you over time and time again. We're going to stand in there and we'll see."
A flagrant one was called on Embiid after hitting Barnes in the face but Khem Birch also appeared to be on the wrong end of an elbow from the big Cameroonian, who won the NBA scoring title.
Barnes later left the game with a sprained ankle after diving into the lane to double Embiid, who accidentally stepped on the rookie's foot.
Young, 33, sprained his thumb in the second quarter and was unable to return and sharpshooter Trent, 23, has been dealing with a non-Covid illness for the last week, according to Nurse.
"I mean, listen, it doesn't look good for any of those guys," he said. "They're all going to be listed as probably doubtful, so it doesn't look good for any of them. We'll evaluate them as we go and see where we end up."
If any of them do manage to fight through to being available then it could make a big difference for a Raptors team which is always up for a dogfight but, either way, it looks like Nurse's team are going to be facing an uphill battle.
The rush of live NBA Playoffs games continues on Sky Sports this week - see the list of games here and subscribe to watch the live action.
