Danny Green was not yet a Sixer when Brett Brown sold a vision of “smash-mouth offense and bully-ball defense” before his final season as the team’s head coach.
A little over a year after that comment, the Sixers shipped out Al Horford, acquired Green, and took another stab at contending for a championship behind Joel Embiid. Following the team's Round 1, Game 2 win Monday night in Philadelphia over the Raptors, Green’s words were reminiscent of the days when the Sixers insisted they'd be bigger, stronger and tougher than the rest of the NBA with a Horford-Embiid frontcourt.
“ … We don’t know what adjustments they’re going to make in Game 3,” Green said, “but we know they’re complaining about the fouls, so there’s going to be a wave of change there, probably. It’s going to be tough to be in their building. We’ve got to make some shots there. We know the whistle may not be in our favor for a couple of games there.
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“Either way, we’ve got to play basketball, fight through it, and impose our will like Jo did early on. He let it be known now that we’re not going to take the bullying, we’re not going to take the BS … making a stand and just getting physical out there, letting it be known we’re not going to be punked out here. And just being emotional offensively and imposing his will — and making them call the fouls — is what we’re going to need, especially in their building.”
Raptors head coach Nick Nurse didn’t go as far as trading physical blows, but he was an extraordinarily active participant Monday. After sharp criticism of the officiating in multiple press conferences leading up to Game 2, Nurse was incensed by a shoving exchange between Embiid and OG Anunoby a minute and 28 seconds into the evening.
“Going into the game, I knew what their strategy was. … From the get-go, I didn’t really want them to set that tone,” Embiid said. “I wanted myself and us to set that tone. That’s why I picked up that first early technical foul — because I felt like there was a missed call on the other end and I just wanted to make sure the refs let us know how physical they wanted the game to be.
“So that’s why I went ahead and we started pushing each other, and we both got techs. But I knew that was their game plan; I knew that was going to be their adjustment. But I wanted to make sure I was the first one to bring the physicality.”
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Embiid in the first quarter went 11 for 12 from the foul line and scored 19 points, ensuring the Sixers’ response to Toronto’s 11-2 game-opening spurt was forceful. His pre-series rhetoric about trusting teammates and making the right plays out of double teams was surely sincere, but that’s not what the Sixers asked for in Game 2.
“He’s the most dominant player in this league to me physically, and that’s what we told him,” Sixers head coach Doc Rivers said. “Be who you are. Be dominant, be physical. I thought the first three minutes they spent time trying to hit him, deliver blows to him. And I was like, ‘No, Jo. You be the dominant guy.’ And I think he’s been that. I loved how he ran down the middle of the floor into the paint — rim runs. That’s good for us, and we need that more.”
The night seriously soured for Nurse and the Raptors. A corner three-pointer from Embiid directly in front of Toronto’s bench extended the Sixers’ advantage to 27 points late in the third quarter.
On the Sixers’ next possession, Nurse initiated a conversation with an official, then turned to watch Embiid size up Khem Birch on the left wing. Embiid pump faked, leaned a bit forward, and tossed a pass out to Georges Niang. Nurse threw his arms out and stared at the official, exuding frustration even when his players guarded Embiid legally and the action was called as such. Embiid said after the game he told Nurse to “stop bitching about the calls.”
One of the Raptors’ major problems through two games is that the majority of Embiid’s drawn fouls stem from size and skill, not underhanded tactics and biased officiating. Regular season or playoffs, star or fringe bench player, many calls in the NBA are straightforward. Embiid earned a lot of those in attempting a league-high 11.8 free throws per game this year.
Predictably, the Sixers trading for James Harden enhanced a strength and further aggravated opponents. Harden has long been masterful in the dark arts of foul drawing — locking his arm with a defender’s, brushing against a big man that has innocent intentions on the fast break — and he's still excellent at getting the calls he’d like.
Over their final 24 regular-season games after Harden’s debut, the Sixers’ free throw rate was easily the NBA’s best at 29.0, per Cleaning the Glass. The disparity between the No. 1 Sixers and No. 2 Nuggets was 4.4. Between Denver and the 17th-ranked Pistons, the gap was 4.5.
Genuine irritation must be part of the picture, though Embiid reasoned that Nurse and other coaches’ vehement disagreements are primarily strategic.
“I have a lot of respect for all these coaches,” Embiid said. “But I feel like they have self-awareness. When they say this type of stuff, it’s (because of) wanting the referees to not call it anymore. And also, to motivate their guys to go out there, play better … and hopefully put that in the referees’ heads to not call it. But when the fouls are as obvious as they were today ... they put me on the floor a few times.
“This is where it gets interesting to me, because I’m like, ‘Well, cool, I’m going to come back with more power.’ That’s part of the reason why I got a few offensive fouls tonight, too. I was like, ‘Well, if you’re going to be physical, I’m going to come back with power and make you foul me — and make it more obvious, if the refs don’t want to call it.’ So I think it’s all about having self-awareness, and I think (the coaches) just do it because they have to, but they don’t actually believe in that. If you watch the clips, every single foul is a foul.”
Of course, a multitude of factors besides free throws are responsible for the Raptors’ 2-0 hole. Scottie Barnes missed Game 2 with a left ankle sprain and Gary Trent Jr.’s illness prevented him from finishing it. Every mistake and blown call hurts against a team featuring two All-Stars, Tyrese Maxey (61 points on 22-for-32 shooting through his first two playoff starts) and Tobias Harris (46 points on 16-for-26 shooting in the series).
However Game 3 is officiated Wednesday night in Toronto, more physical play and impassioned referee discussions are inevitable. It's safe to assume that Embiid — provided he's good to go after injury scares with his left ankle and right elbow — will talk and push back.