Sixers’ Doc Rivers, Raptors’ Nick Nurse know playoffs are all about making adjustments

The NBA playoffs are all about coaching adjustments.

For 76ers coach Doc Rivers and the Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse, their teams’ opening-round series is a chess match that will demand the duo adjust and re-adjust in order to stay afloat.

Rivers and Nurse talked about that Saturday before Game 1 of a best-of-seven first-round playoff series at the Wells Fargo Center.

“That’s the exciting part of this job this time of the year,” Nurse said. “The series are interesting and take so many turns and each game kind of has its own identity. And those games take lots of turns. So yeah, I guess I enjoy it.

“It’s part of the gig and what we are here for today.”

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Rivers also enjoys it, noting the postseason is a game of adjustments all the time.

Both coaches have made the necessary adjustments to lead teams to NBA titles. Nurse led the Raptors to the 2019 NBA championship. Rivers coached the Boston Celtics to the 2008 title.

“But it’s also a game of play,” he said. “I had games where I felt like I adjusted well and we didn’t make a shot. So it still doesn’t matter.

“At the end of the day, it’s about trying to win the game and figuring out how to do that and try to make sure you have the right guys in the right place at the right time.”

DeAndre Jordan signed with the Sixers on March 3 to be Joel Embiid’s backup.

However, Doc Rivers said last week that Jordan will be Embiid’s backup center against taller teams. Meanwhile, Paul Reed will get the backup center nod versus smaller teams.

So after Saturday morning’s shootaround, Jordan was asked what he thinks his role will be versus the Raptors.

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“I’m going to be a team player, like whatever they need me to do,” he said. “Obviously, each game throughout the season, each playoffs, every series is different. They may require a bigger lineup. They may require a smaller lineup.”

He knows there will be situations where he plays and doesn’t play. He knows the same for Reed and Paul Millsap. He believes that’s what makes the Sixers a team.

“We got every little piece to make the whole thing work,” Jordan said. “And I think everybody has to be able to sacrifice whether it be offense, defense, playing time, shots, whatever it is we want to reach an ultimate goal.”

Former Sixers standout Thad Young is the eldest Raptor. At 33 years old, Young is four years older than Khem Birch, 29, the second-oldest Toronto player.

Yet, Young, a 15-year NBA veteran, has been a solid addition off the Raptors bench since being acquired via a trade from the San Antonio Spurs on Feb. 10.

He didn’t play in 24 of the Spurs’ final 29 games before being traded. Young missed Toronto’s game on the night he was traded and the next one. He followed that by appearing in 26 of Toronto’s final 27 games.

Young averaged 6.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.2 steals, and 8.3 minutes while shooting 39.5% on three-pointers since the trade. He didn’t play in the second half of Saturday’s Game 1 after spraining his left thumb. He grabbled one rebound in five minutes of action. If unable to play, he could be a huge loss for the Raptors moving forward.

He settled in after a bumpy start in Toronto. Nurse said it was just a matter of getting Young organized with what the Raptors were running.

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“He’s does what you would think,” Nurse said. “He provides a wise voice. He is into game plans and practice and helping the younger guys understand some of the schemes.”

Young also brought a hard-playing attitude to this week’s practice, a way to let his teammates know it’s time to get locked in for the playoffs.

“He’s been really good, and he’s been really versatile for us,” Nurse said. “So [he’s] been a nice addition.”

The Sixers selected Young with the 12th overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft. He played in Philadelphia for seven seasons and was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Aug. 23, 2014.