How a new lineup wrinkle has helped the Sixers win the minutes Joel Embiid rests in playoff series vs. Raptors

TORONTO — James Harden helped create the space at the top of the key for Tyrese Maxey to blow by Fred VanVleet and Thad Young for a slick left-handed layup. About a minute of game time later, Maxey drew the extra defender on the left wing before dishing back to Harden, who buried the step-back three-pointer over Gary Trent Jr.

Those are the types of looks the Sixers have generated so far during the second-quarter stretches when MVP finalist Joel Embiid rests in the playoffs’ first round against the Raptors, revealing a significant reason why they are up 2-0 as this series shifts to Toronto. During the Game 1 and Game 2 spurts that lasted about four minutes apiece, the Sixers outscored the Raptors 28-11 to not just hold onto leads, but extend them.

Those periods have been spearheaded by the Harden-Maxey two-man game. It’s a recently emphasized personnel and schematic wrinkle that coach Doc Rivers once deemed “impossible” because of both players’ already-heavy workloads, but now wants to “force” in tiny bursts because of its potency against Toronto’s scrambling defense.

“We just tried to pick at a matchup right there and kind of exploit it,” added forward Tobias Harris, who is also part of that lineup. “Tyrese was able to get downhill. James was able to get downhill and just create other shots for other guys, as well. … We’re still figuring it out game by game, but that was a good highlight of [Game 2].”

The Harden-Maxey pairing has helped massage the minutes from a Sixers bench unit that has often been maligned for its scoring droughts since the Harden trade. Those two playing with Harris, Danny Green, and Paul Reed in the series is something Rivers said he has been pushing for about three weeks. But the grueling sprint to the end of the regular season did not provide much practice time to work on those actions until last week’s break before the playoffs, when Rivers said, “We literally did it every day, to show them how effective it could be.”

“What we were trying to show them is they both can be in [the play],” Rivers said of Harden and Maxey. “One can have the ball on one possession, and the other possession the other one can have the ball, and they can just play off of each other. …

“It’s funny, you learn stuff [while] coaching. You tell them stuff and you think they see it, and then you realize they don’t run it, so clearly they don’t see it. Then once we got it in practice, they saw it and it was good.”

In Monday’s Game 2, that approach immediately led to a Maxey dish to Green for a three-pointer from the right corner. On the Sixers’ next possession, Harden got the ball from Maxey at the top, drove right and, when doubled by VanVleet and OG Anunoby, spun and flipped a pass over his shoulder to Harris for a long ball from the opposite corner. After a scoreless first quarter, that stretch also got Maxey going with six of his 23 points in less than one minute of game action as part of 9-0 Sixers run to take a double-digit lead for the first time in the game.

In Saturday’s Game 1, meanwhile, those minutes yielded one play where Maxey set a screen for Harden and drew a switch, which freed up the space for Maxey to get the ball on the wing and attack right for a tough finish inside. Later, Harden drew another switch, then dribbled between his legs before launching a step-back three over Trent Jr. to give the Sixers a 48-38 lead.

“You’ve got to make a decision [as a defense],” Maxey said. “If you want to switch, most of the time they don’t want to get off James’ body and give him any space. So if they don’t, I’m getting downhill. And if they switch, then he has a matchup or I have a matchup.”

Those lineups have also turned defense into offense. Reed’s length and athleticism make him versatile enough to guard out to the perimeter. Harris has done an impressive job on Raptors star Pascal Siakam. Green has made plays on the ball in both games. Those stops ignited sequences such as a Harden rebound and coast-to-coast layup in Game 1, or when Maxey immediately pushed off a Siakam high-arching miss and converted a floater in Game 2.

Before Game 2, Raptors coach Nick Nurse was displeased with his team’s “poor” defense against the Harden-Maxey combo. He emphasized the times when Harden “lulled [us] to sleep,” when Maxey “punched through the gaps a few times” and when his team did not challenge Harden’s step-back.

“We didn’t do any of it very well,” Nurse said Monday evening, before their approach did not work much better in Game 2.

Though rotations naturally shorten during the playoffs, Rivers is cognizant of not over-extending Harden or Maxey. Each played more than 41 minutes in Game 2, the Sixers’ highest totals. And Rivers wants at least one on the floor at all times as a primary ballhandler.

Yet Rivers is likely to continue “forcing” those second-quarter spurts spearheaded by the Harden-Maxey two-man game. Because that lineup has helped the Sixers build leads, even when their MVP finalist is off the floor.

“That’s what we’re going to need all series,” Embiid said. “And for the future, too.”