Raptors coach Nick Nurse doubles down on criticism of officials in first-round series vs. Sixers

When asked during his pregame news conference about adjustments from Game 1 to Game 2 of their first-round series against the 76ers, Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse used that as a jumping-off point to again criticize the officiating in his team’s blowout loss Saturday.

“We’ve got to survive some of the physicality out there, right?” Nurse said. “I mean, listen, you heard me saying it after the game: We got ran over a bunch when we were legal, which was true. There were several shots to the face, which I don’t understand were not reviewed.

“There [were] three, and one was called and reviewed. There [were] two others. There was one to to the back of the head. There was an open-hand slap to the face. So I hope that they’ve got enough guts to at least stop the game and look at that stuff tonight.

“I don’t mind physicality. It’s the playoffs and we expect it to be physical, and we’ve got to be able to handle that.”

After Game 1, Nurse was particularly upset that more fouls were not called on Sixers MVP contender Joel Embiid, who was whistled five times in 37 minutes. Raptors All-Star point guard Fred VanVleet and backup forward Chris Boucher both fouled out in that game. The Sixers shot 34 free throws, while the Raptors shot 23.

“We had a couple of times where we beat [Embiid] to the spot and he bowled us right over,” Nurse said Saturday night, “and they just let him lay it in.”

Doc Rivers is still tinkering with the Sixers’ rotation, a result of limited practice time since the James Harden trade.

One lineup combination the coach discovered more recently includes Harden and Tyrese Maxey on the floor together while Embiid rests. While rolling out that lineup early in the second quarter of Saturday’s Game 1 rout of the Toronto Raptors, the Sixers stretched what had dwindled to a three-point lead back up to 10 points in less than four minutes. Embiid returned to the game with the lead still intact.

» READ MORE: What the Raptors lose with Scottie Barnes sidelined for Game 2 against the Sixers

Rivers cautioned that the group can only be used in short spurts, however, because he also prefers Harden or Maxey on the floor at all times to be the primary ballhandler and does not want to overextend either player’s minutes. Both played more than 10 minutes in the second quarter Saturday, but caught up on rest down the stretch when the score was out of hand.

“It actually does create a problem for us,” Rivers said. “But we’re going to force that five minutes a game, at least, because that combination for us is really good.”

The continued personnel experimentation means bench players such as Shake Milton and Georges Niang have played with several different lineups since the trade. Milton said that has required him to be a “basketball chameleon,” while Niang added he and teammates simply need to “figure it out” in real time.

“There’s no time to [say], ‘Oh, I haven’t had time with him,’ ” Niang said after Monday’s shootaround. “No, we’re all here to win. And if that means you have to sacrifice something to be out on the court with someone you’re not used to, well, you figure it out on the fly.

“It’s kill or be killed at this point. Everybody wants a championship, and you’ve got to do what’s necessary to make that happen.”

The Raptors gave up the most corner three-point attempts in the NBA during the regular season (11.4 per game), and were tied for the most in the league with 4.4 opponent makes at that spot of the floor per game.

That is a product of a Toronto defense that Sixers players have described as “scrambling,” “chaotic” and “junky” in recent days. The Sixers took nine shots from the corners in Game 1, making three. And players such as Maxey, Milton, Niang and Danny Green are prepared to continue getting the ball in that spot, especially when Embiid and Harden are double-teamed.

“You’re gonna have a lot of close-out situations,” Milton said, “and it’s going to be up to you to decide whether I have the shot, I have one more [pass] or I’m able to put the ball back on the floor and be able to [create] an opportunity for somebody else. It’s just about reading the defense, reading what they give you and being aggressive. You can’t be on your heels and laying back playing against a team like this.”

Added Green: “I feel like they’re leaving everybody. … I think they make an adjustment. But as of right now, they’re gonna let other guys like myself and Georges and Shake beat them, and not let Joel and James beat them.”

Following Monday’s Game 2, the Sixers will travel across the border for the rest of the week for Games 3 and 4, plus practice/film days, in Toronto.

Defensive stalwart Matisse Thybulle, of course, cannot join his team because he has chosen to be unvaccinated and is thus ineligible to travel to and play in Canada. He said following Monday’s shootaround that he will likely watch both games “by myself,” and will partake in solo workouts at the team’s practice facility and study film while he is apart from the Sixers.

“Obviously, it’s always frustrating to watch as opposed to play,” Thybulle said. “But it’s the situation I find myself in, so I’m going to make the most of it. … [I’ll] be as prepared as possible for when they come home, hopefully with two more wins.”