The full schedule for Sixers-Raptors has arrived.
Tip-off times for Games 5 through 7 (if necessary) are to be determined, but here’s when the Eastern Conference’s fourth and fifth seeds are set to play, with TV info in parentheses:
- Game 1: Saturday, 4/16 at 6 p.m. ET in Philadelphia (NBC Sports Philadelphia)
- Game 2: Monday, 4/18 at 7:30 p.m. ET in Philadelphia (NBC Sports Philadelphia)
- Game 3: Wednesday, 4/20 at 8 p.m. ET in Toronto (NBC Sports Philadelphia)
- Game 4: Saturday, 4/23 at 2 p.m. ET in Toronto (NBC Sports Philadelphia)
- Game 5: Monday, 4/25 at TBD in Philadelphia
- Game 6: Thursday, 4/28 at TBD in Toronto
- Game 7: Saturday, 4/30 at TBD in Philadelphia
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The full eight-team playoff field in the East will be locked in Friday night. The Nets secured the conference’s seventh seed with a play-in tournament win Tuesday over the Cavs, meaning they’ll see the Celtics in the first round. The winner of Wednesday’s play-in matchup between the Hornets and Hawks will face Cleveland on Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET to decide the eighth seed.
For the Sixers, those results might matter. If they beat Toronto, their second-round opponent would be either the top-seeded Heat or whichever team pulled off an upset over Miami.
Key players were out for every one of the Sixers and Raptors’ four regular-season meetings. While James Harden is 14-7 in his appearances as a Sixer, two of those losses are to Toronto. One defeat was a low-scoring affair at home and the other was on the road with Matisse Thybulle ineligible to play, which will remain the case this series because the 25-year-old wing is not fully vaccinated.
“You do see some things that we hope we can take advantage of or use,” Sixers head coach Doc Rivers said Tuesday about the regular-season series against the Raptors. “I guess the one good thing, if there’s a good thing about playing Toronto, is they are who they are.
NBA
“They’re long, they’re athletic, and they don’t change much. They do change a lot of defenses and all that stuff, but at the end of the day it’s all about their length, their speed, their aggressiveness. And so you have to combat that.”
Since winning the Eastern Conference in the 2000-01 season behind MVP Allen Iverson, the Sixers have not advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs.
They’re hoping to change that in the fifth consecutive postseason appearance for Joel Embiid, the team’s first scoring title winner since Iverson. The first item on the agenda is four wins over the Raptors.