Avoiding another first-half deficit key for Sixers in Game 5 vs. Raptors

Doc Rivers held a pop quiz during the 76ers’ film session Sunday, asking his players to identify seven offensive sets as they rolled on the screen. The typical reaction, according to the coach, was confusion or silence from the players watching themselves.

That epitomized the Sixers’ performance on that end of the floor in their 110-102 loss in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series against the Toronto Raptors, which Rivers described as “unorganized” in approach and “random” in how uncharacteristic it was.

Those offensive struggles contributed to the Sixers’ slip into a double-digit first-half deficit for the second consecutive game of this best-of-seven series. In Wednesday’s Game 3, the Sixers were able to claw back and force overtime, before MVP finalist Joel Embiid’s improbable game-winning three-pointer.

That was not the case Saturday, when the Sixers got within one point multiple times in the second half before the Raptors closed out the victory to avoid the sweep and force a Game 5 Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center. To put the playing-with-desperation Raptors away for good, preventing another early hole could go a long way for the Sixers.

“That’s a problem we had fixed,” Embiid said of the first-half problems. “So we need to go back to the drawing board and go back to doing whatever it takes to be better.”

It’s clear that the Raptors are at their best when allowed to use their length, athleticism, and physicality to unleash their biggest statistical strengths: offensive rebounding, forcing turnovers, and getting out in transition.

During Saturday’s second quarter, when the Raptors built a 12-point lead, they scored nine second-chance points off five offensive rebounds, tallied seven fast-break points, and parlayed six Sixers turnovers into seven points. In Game 3′s first quarter, when the Raptors got out to a 10-point advantage, they had four second-chance points on a 3-0 offensive rebounding edge, amassed nine transition points, and totaled 12 points off nine Sixers turnovers.

That was a significant contrast to Games 1 and 2, which the Sixers won comfortably.

In building an 18-point halftime lead in Game 1, the Sixers had zero turnovers and a big advantage in rebounding (25-15, including 8-2 on the offensive glass), second-chance points (12-3) and fast-break points (16-4). During Game 2, they flipped a one-point deficit after one quarter into a 15-point halftime lead with a 21-17 rebounding advantage, an 11-6 edge in fast-break points, and by surrendering only five points off six turnovers.

“It’s what we talked about before the series,” Rivers said. “If they’re going to offensive rebound and dominate you on the glass, if you’re going to be sloppy with the ball and turn the ball over, they’re going to have more shots than you. … It’s going to make the game hard.”

Another issue Saturday, however, was offensive execution that Rivers called “so bad.”

Though the Sixers missed a barrage of open shots, Rivers was frustrated by spacing issues that the coach estimated his team regularly spends 40 minutes working on during an hourlong practice. Rivers also lamented Sunday that his team failed to recognize — and punish — the Raptors for Game 4 traps that the coach believes were “so obvious, where [they were] coming from.” Forward Tobias Harris added an inability to drive and deliver kick-out passes, which then triggers more difficult defensive close-outs, at the same rate Saturday as in this series’ earlier games made the Sixers’ offense more “predictable.”

“We talked about it, we worked on it [Friday] and then we came out [Saturday] and we just didn’t do it,” Rivers said. “Too many wasted offensive possessions.”

Even before Embiid’s torn thumb ligament became a massive postseason storyline, the Sixers’ All-Star big man shot 5-of-15 from the floor and committed 11 turnovers in Games 3 and 4 combined. His injury now makes it unrealistic to assume he is going to be as consistently dominant as he was during the regular season.

And though Harris has been steady throughout this series, All-Star James Harden went 3-of-9 during Saturday’s first half to continue his shooting struggles since arriving in Philly at the trade deadline. Tyrese Maxey, whom Rivers calls “the benefactor a lot” when the offense is sharp, also only took four first-half shots in Game 4.

The Sixers’ next opportunity to make corrections — and close out the Raptors — arrives Monday. And clues that they are on their way could be present in the first half, then show up on film the following day.

“We’ve got to do those things, and we’ve got to do them from the beginning of the game and all the way to the end of the game,” Harden said. “It’s not about anybody else but ourselves.”