‘At peace’ with role, Tobias Harris is finding new ways to contribute to Sixers’ dominance of Toronto Raptors

TORONTO — Tobias Harris momentarily let his frustration get the best of him.

The 76ers’ starting forward slapped the floor and got up slowly after failing to convert the tip-in off a missed layup by Danny Green. Then, Harris allowed Raptors sharpshooter Gary Trent Jr. to shake free and drain a three-pointer on the opposite end of the floor, breaking an 87-87 tie with less than four minutes to go in regulation of Wednesday’s wild Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.

“I kind of lost my cool for, like, 30 seconds,” Harris recalled after the game. “And I just said, ‘I can’t allow that to happen in the midst of a playoff game. … I’m not letting anybody score on me who has the ball, and we’re gonna get stops, we’re gonna get rebounds and we’re gonna finish this game.’ ”

Cue the stout defensive play from Harris, including forcing Trent into an out-of-control spin and then poking the ball away with about two minutes remaining in overtime. Cue Harris’ mental fortitude to cloak his burning internal anger with an outward smile and laugh after he wrestled away an offensive rebound but missed the shot near the rim that would have won the game in regulation. And cue Harris setting the screen on Toronto’s Precious Achiuwa that freed up Joel Embiid for the turnaround dagger that lifted the Sixers to an improbable overtime victory.

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid’s last-second shot is one for the ages, and for his own legacy

The Sixers’ commanding 3-0 series lead has been anchored by Embiid’s dominance, heroics and verbal zings at Raptors coach Nick Nurse and hip-hop megastar Drake. And by Tyrese Maxey continuing to catapult himself into stardom. And by James Harden’s masterful passing and scoring burst that kept the Sixers afloat early in Game 3. But Harris’ steadiness on both ends of the floor has been critical, and marks another wave in the evolution of the player whose role has changed the most since the the Sixers acquired Harden in a blockbuster deadline trade.

“The unsung hero,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said of Harris after the game. “I don’t even know what he scored, but Tobias Harris tonight was unbelievable. [He was] all over the floor defensively. He did so many little things. Set the last pick of the game. He was fantastic.”

Harris has contributed in a variety of ways so far in this series. He totaled 26 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists in Game 1. He finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds and was a plus-23 in Game 2. Wednesday night, he grabbed six of his 12 rebounds in the fourth quarter and overtime and added 11 points. In three games, he has shot 58.8% from the floor and 63.6% from three-point distance. And he is perhaps playing the best defense of his 11-year career, tag-teaming with Embiid on Wednesday to help hold Raptors star Pascal Siakam scoreless after halftime.

“What winning basketball is about is trying to figure out whatever little thing you can do to impact winning and impact the team,” Harris said.

Harris’ recent success can be traced back to a conversation with Rivers shortly after the Harden trade. Rivers told Harris he would no longer get the number of isolation plays he was accustomed to, making the decisiveness with the ball the coach has always emphasized even more important. Harris then spent hours drilling a quick release on catch-and-shoot three-pointers “for the first time in my career,” he said.

The fit initially looked clunky when Harris missed 13 of his 18 field-goal attempts in the Sixers’ first two outings with Harden. A March 13 game-winning corner three-pointer at Orlando to cap a 10-of-18 night, though, could now be regarded as a turning point. Harris shot 44% on 4.7 long-range attempts, and 50.5% overall, during the Sixers’ final 18 regular-season games. He has also been the driving force behind the Sixers’ quest for “positive vibrations,” their lingo for team chemistry.

“I just was basically at peace with [my role] and never looked back from that time,” Harris said. “With all that, I understand [that] keeping the group as a whole together, making sure everybody is in a right spirit of mind, is big for us as a team — especially toward this run that we’re trying to do.

“So I have to be that person, as well, and have my attitude and my stature [within] the group in the right place. … I think that was the biggest thing from the team the whole year was figuring out ways that we can be successful. It’s what this game is about. It’s what life is about: adjusting and adapting.”

» READ MORE: Sixers’ Joel Embiid puts Raptors demons to rest, draining buzzer-beater and placing 2019 loss behind him

Yet Harris’ defense — ‘being able to guard my yard,” as he says — has perhaps been his most impressive recent area of growth. He knows that was the biggest outside criticism of his game coming into the NBA, and it remains his reputation if one listens to select national voices as recently as earlier this week.

He has continuously worked on his lateral quickness to stay in front of ballhandlers while studying the tendencies of individual matchups. Ahead of a March 7 win over the Chicago Bulls — when he knew he would match up against midrange maestro DeMar DeRozan — Harris took another step to embrace the challenge. DeRozan finished 6-of-17 from the floor in the Sixers’ 121-106 win, with Rivers calling Harris’ defense “as good as you’re going to get” after the win.

Now, against Siakam and the Raptors’ long and physical drivers, Harris has tried to match their strength, beat them to their spots on the floor and force them into second moves. Rivers has highlighted multiple times when Harris’ help defense has made a difference. Harris’ impact on that end of the floor Wednesday night made it easy to forget that the Sixers were playing without their best perimeter defender, the unvaccinated Matisse Thybulle.

“I know if I’ve got a guy dribbling three or four times, he’s in for a long night there,” Harris said. “Because I know I’m going to be able to slide with him and be able to contest and to live with the type of shots that I want him to shoot.”

Added Rivers, who also coached Harris with the Clippers: “This is as focused as I’ve seen Tobias defensively, ever. And I’m saying here and L.A.”

It’s fair to wonder what Harris’ future could hold with this Embiid-Harden-Maxey iteration of the Sixers. Their bench could use an upgrade this summer, and Harris is being paid a max-contract salary to be the third or fourth option. That status combined with inconsistent production has made Harris an easy target of vitriol inside his home arena, part of a rocky season when he also endured a significant bout with COVID-19 and a chronic shoulder injury. Before the Harden deal materialized, the Sixers considered trading Harris at the deadline to free up cap space.

Yet Harris has carved out his role for the present. As a jubilant Embiid celebrated his game-winner inside a victorious Sixers locker room, Maxey told reporters that Harris jokingly said, “Joel, that was a great shot. But that screen that I set …”

Harris chuckled when notified a few minutes later that Maxey had publicly relayed that playful exchange. Harris did, however, concede that the screen was “for sure” the best he has ever set, “because I don’t set too many.”

And Embiid gave credit where it was due. It was another sign of the understated-yet-critical impact Harris has had on the Sixers’ dominant first-round series.

“He got me so wide open,” Embiid said of Harris. “He’s the reason why I made the shot, really.”