Sixers-Raptors preview: Toronto not putting any stock in regular season success against Sixers ahead of playoff series

TORONTO — The Raptors took the regular season series against the 76ers, 3-1. That, along with their success throughout the 2018-19 campaign, and one of the most dominant two-way players in the game, has made them the favorite in this Eastern Conference semifinal.

Ask any number of the Raptors players or head coach Nick Nurse, and they’ll tell you the regular season means nothing at this point. It doesn’t matter to them that Leonard has never lost a game against the Sixers or any of the other records they hold against Philadelphia.

"The past doesn’t help me at all,” Leonard said.

There are a few reasons for this disregard of the Raptors’ previous wins. The first is the most obvious and also one the Sixers have repeated this season: This is not the same team they started with in October. And as Brett Brown says, it’s the third Sixers team of the season.

The Raptors have dealt with their own fair share of roster shuffling this season, so the same could be said of them.

“Two different teams, a lot of different sets, the offense,” North Philly native Kyle Lowry said after Raptors practice on Friday, noting the different lineups that were used. “It’s just different.”

For some context, in the first meeting between the two Eastern contenders on Oct. 30, Markelle Fultz, Robert Covington, and Dario Saric were in the Sixers’ starting lineup. Even in their most recent contest on Feb. 5, Landry Shamet and Mike Muscala started with JJ Redick sidelined. On the Toronto side, now-Sixer Greg Monroe played nearly 18 minutes for the pre-trade deadline Raptors.

Another reason for pushing aside what happened before the playoffs is that both teams are just now feeling like they are rounding into form. Injuries, trades, and lineup changes have kept both teams from creating chemistry early on. But, both the Sixers and Raptors are coming into this series rested after winning four straight to close out their first-round opponents.

Lastly, at this point in the postseason, basketball is played differently. There is a different intensity, different style, and more preparation that goes into each game.

“These games are totally different,” Nurse said. “There so many things that could have been [happening] schedule-wise or effort-wise. I don’t put too much into any of it.”

The Raptors are hoping that their focus, meticulous preparation, and home-court advantage will give them the upper hand when the series kicks off on Saturday night.

Lowry said that the Raptors have familiarized themselves with the Sixers’ sets, which he doesn’t expect to change much. He believes that more important than the team schemes or sets is understanding individual tendencies.

“We know what their sets are going to be but at the end of the day it’s going to be Ben, Jo, Tobias, JJ, and Jimmy,” he said. “They’ve got a good team. Knowing the individuals and knowing the personnel is huge.”

With the elite talent spread across both teams, the Raptors are looking forward to the raised level of basketball that is going to be played in the second round, and they feel they’re up to the challenge.

“It’s going to be fun, it’s going to be fun. It’s a good series,” Lowry said. “There’s just talent all over the place.”