Joel Embiid Credits the Raptors For Improving his Game as Toronto Explains How to Slow the 76ers' Star

The Toronto Raptors explain how important early defense is against Philadelphia 76ers' superstar Joel Embiid

Aaron Rose | Apr 15, 2022

Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports

Once Joel Embiid gets post position on the left block, it’s game over.

That’s not news to the Toronto Raptors. All season the Philadelphia 76ers’ potential league MVP has been a monster in the paint. Even with all of Toronto’s notoriously aggressive defensive schemes, Embiid has still dominated them down low. In his three games against the Raptors this season, Embiid has turned 37 post-ups into 30 points, three assists, and six personal fouls. Those numbers represent the most he’s scored against any team in the league, per NBA Stats.

Essentially, Embiid is borderline unstoppable from his spots. He’s one of the league’s premier post-up players and is just as adept at facing up his defender as he is backing down his man in the paint. He’s no longer a one-trick pony on offense, unable to adapt to Toronto's defense back in 2019.

“He’s turned into Kevin Durant, Michael Jordan, Kobe, Shaq all put together,” said Fred VanVleet. “He’s handling a little bit more, he’s playing on the perimeter a little bit more, he’s facing up at the nail, he’s playing at the elbows so he can see where the help comes. ... We’ve got our work cut out for us for sure.”

Toronto’s plan is simple, at least on paper: Don’t let Embiid get the ball in his spots.

“There’s about an eight-foot, 12-foot box down there where (if) he catches it, you’re probably gonna be in trouble,” VanVleet said. “Especially with the size that we have down there, it’ll probably take two or three of our skinny guys to match up to him.”

For the Raptors, that means getting their work done early.

“To be honest with you, when Joel Embiid is in the game you just gotta be ready from the beginning,” said Chris Boucher, one of Toronto's quartet of 6-foot-9 forwards off the bench. “By the time he gets the rebound, you gotta realize that he’s probably gonna go get in (the) post and we're probably going to have to double him and scramble and all that.”

“The best defense is to not let him catch the ball,” said Precious Achiuwa who projects to spend the majority of his time defending Embiid off the bench for the Raptors. “That’s damn near impossible, but you just got to put him in a position where he has to do a lot more moves to get to the basket or get into his spot.”

When Plan A fails, the fire alarms go off and the scrambling begins.

That’s where Toronto is different from most teams. While the Raptors have the speed to get back and beat Embiid to his spots, they don’t quite have the size to stop him from getting there eventually. The goal is to make him fight for positioning as precious seconds tick off that shot clock. Once he gets the ball, the Raptors swarm, forcing the ball out of his hands and daring someone else to beat them as they scramble out to the perimeter to recover once the kick-out pass is made.

Over the years, it’s a strategy that’s worked. As Nurse noted in his book Rapture, Embiid has a tendency to get frustrated when things aren’t going his way early. After Game 3 of the 2019 Eastern Conference semifinals, Nurse told his team they had to send “everybody” at Embiid every time he got the ball in the first few minutes of the game, Nurse wrote in his book following the 2019 championship. He figured — accurately — that if Toronto got into Embiid’s head early, the 76ers’ star would be off his game for the rest of the night.

“They just force me to be a playmaker,” Embiid told reporters in Philadelphia on Wednesday. “They just play recklessly, sending three guys on me as soon as the ball is in the air, which made me better honestly over the years just playing against them and watching them. They definitely made me a better playmaker, so I enjoy playing with them.”

There are, of course, times when even that doesn’t work. If the help is too slow or the positioning is too good, the Raptors know there’s always Plan C: Just foul. It’s not a great strategy, but as a last resort, it’s not terrible. In three games against Toronto, Embiid has averaged over 10 free throws made, nearly one make per game over his season average.

Ultimately, though, it goes back to the beginning of the possession. The defense doesn’t start when Embiid gets the ball down low and the Raptors start scrambling. If things go according to plan, Toronto wants to make it tough on the superstar big and force him outside his comfort zone, away from the basket, and unable to get the ball to that sweet spot just left of Toronto’s basket.

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