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Joel Embiid's free throws: Do Nick Nurse, Raptors have case to be frustrated with calls for 76ers center? – Sporting News

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It didn’t take long for fouls to become a subject of debate in the first-round series between the Raptors and 76ers.

Following a quiet Game 1 by his standards, Joel Embiid led the 76ers to a dominant Game 2 victory with 31 points and 11 rebounds. He shot an efficient 9-for-16 from the field but also went 12-for-14 from the charity stripe, making and taking more free throws than the Raptors did as an entire team.

In the closing seconds of the game, cameras caught an exchange between Embiid and Raptors head coach Nick Nurse, which was later revealed to have been about — what else? — free throws.

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“(Embiid) was saying to me that (he’s) going to keep making all the free throws if (we) keep fouling (him),” Nurse said. “I said you might have to.”

As for Embiid’s side of the story: “He’s a great coach obviously. What he’s been able to accomplish, I’ve always been a big fan, but I told him, respectfully, to stop b—ing about calls because I saw what he said last game,” referring to Nurse’s comments about the officiating after Game 1.

Unfortunately for the Raptors, Embiid is probably going to continue living at the line because this is what he does.

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We’re talking about free throws

Want to guess who made and attempted the most free throws in the league this season? Mr. Joel Embiid.

Embiid took 11.8 free throws per game and knocked them down at an 81.4 percent clip, an incredible mark for a center. The only other players since 2000 who got to the free throw line as much as or more than Embiid did this season are James Harden in 2019-20 (11.8) and Shaquille O’Neal in 2000-01 (13.1).

Like Harden, Embiid has mastered the art of drawing fouls. And like O’Neal, he’s a massive human being who can bulldoze his way through just about anyone, standing at 7-feet and 280-pounds.

Complicating matters for the Raptors is they don’t have a Marc Gasol anymore, a big man who has the size to at least match up with Embiid.

Toronto has had quite a lot of success against Embiid over the years and even limited him to 19 points on 5-for-15 shooting in Game 1, but the way the Raptors have given him the most trouble is by showing him multiple bodies whenever he touches the ball with timely double and sometimes triple teams. Whether it’s Khem Birch, Precious Achiuwa or Pascal Siakam, they don’t stand much of a chance defending him one-on-one.

Embiid is well aware of that.

Check out what happens on this possession from early in Game 2:

The Raptors switch a pick-and-roll between Harden and Embiid, resulting in Achiuwa switching onto Harden and Gary Trent Jr. switching onto Embiid. The Raptors then wisely switch Siakam onto Embiid before he can even think about taking advantage of Trent, but Embiid simply goes into bully mode against Siakam, who is giving up four inches and 50 pounds.

If Siakam has no shot against Embiid, there’s not much Fred VanVleet can do once he gets the ball. And when Embiid gets downhill, the defense is usually toast.

Achiuwa is a giant by normal standards, but asking him to keep Embiid off the glass by himself is a tall order.

That’s three fouls leading to five of the 14 free throws Embiid attempted in Game 2 right there.

Does that mean that every call Embiid gets is as clear as day? Of course not. Watch the fouls he drew in Game 2 and you’ll see a lot of this from the Raptors:

It doesn’t help that Embiid knows how to sell calls.

This…

…and this…

…are probably the types of calls that drive Nurse and everyone else on the Raptors crazy, but Embiid would argue that he was fouled, and he was smart to punish the Raptors for being physical with him while in the bonus, knowing any foul would lead to free throws. (That’s nine of the 14 free throw attempts, by the way.)

“If you’re going to triple-team somebody all game, they’re bound to get to the free-throw line,” Embiid said after the game. “If you’re going to push them off and try to hold them off and all of that stuff, they’re bound to get to the free-throw line. So I feel like every foul was legit, and probably should have been more, honestly.”

For what it’s worth, Embiid drew 8.5 fouls per game during the regular season, per InStat. Through two games in this series, he’s drawing 10.0 fouls per game. So he is getting more of a whistle in this series than he was in the regular season, but not by much.

The problem is that Embiid isn’t the only player the Raptors have to be worried about, because Harden is almost as prolific of a foul-drawer. He hasn’t gotten to the foul line quite as much as Embiid, but he’s still averaging 7.5 free throw attempts per contest through two games.

Keeping one of Embiid and Harden off the free throw line is hard enough. As the Raptors are learning, keeping them both off is nearly impossible.

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Senators score 5 in 1st, cruise past Sabres – NHL.com

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“I thought that we were ready to go,” Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said. “We got some pucks at the net, we got people at the net. Took advantage of our opportunities and, I think, built a nice lead. And then I thought, in the third period, we continued again. Our goaltending was good. Made some key saves. But I thought we shut them down in the third period good.”

Shane Pinto had a goal and three assists, and Brady Tkachuk, Boris Katchouk, Jakob Chychrun and Drake Batherson each had a goal and an assist for the Senators (31-36-4), who have won three in a row. Korpisalo made 34 saves.

“If you want to win, you need balance,” Pinto said. “And we had that tonight and it’s going to be big for the back-to-back tomorrow (against the Chicago Blackhawks) to have that same thing. So, going to need all the guys on board.”

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JJ Peterka and Connor Clifton scored for the Sabres (34-34-5), who have lost four of six. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed four goals on nine shots before he was replaced by Devon Levi, who made 31 saves in relief.

“We wanted, I guess, to play as individuals,” Clifton said. “I’m disappointed we let ‘Upie’ down, he’s the heart and soul of this team. He’s kept us in so many games, and just to not show up and play that careless style, give them freebies all over the place. … Yeah, obviously, the first 20 really dictated the rest of the game.”

Artem Zub gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 2:37 of the first period. He stuffed in a loose puck on the goal line after Katchouk’s shot was redirected by Mark Kastelic between Luukkonen’s pads.

Katchouk made it 2-0 at 4:56, tipping Parker Kelly’s shot from the top of the right face-off circle past Luukkonen.

“It’s keeping the consistency with good effort, right habits,” Katchouk said. “The small things matter so much in this game. And obviously, it worked out tonight with the tip. But kudos to my linemates. ‘Kels’ and ‘Kassy,’ they worked hard to get the puck as well. Those two battle hard every night as well. We feed off each other, and it’s good to play with them.”

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Vasilevskiy stops 23 as surging Lightning beat Bruins – Sportsnet.ca

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Shane Pinto has a goal, three assists as the Senators roll over the Sabres – Sportsnet.ca

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