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.
“(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.
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.
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings made another investment this week in a young standout, signing Moritz Seider to a seven-year contract worth nearly $60 million.
The Red Wings announced the move with the 23-year-old German defenseman on Thursday, three days after keeping 22-year-old forward Lucas Raymond with a $64.6 million, eight-year deal.
Detroit drafted Seider with the No. 6 pick overall eight years ago and he has proven to be a great pick. He has 134 career points, the most by a defenseman drafted in 2019.
He was the NHL’s only player to have at least 200 hits and block 200-plus shots last season, when he scored a career-high nine goals and had 42 points for the second straight year.
Seider won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2022 after he had a career-high 50 points.
Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is banking on Seider, whose contract will count $8.55 million annually against the cap, and Raymond to turn a rebuilding team into a winner.
Detroit has failed to make the playoffs in eight straight seasons, the longest postseason drought in franchise history.
The Red Wings, who won four Stanley Cups from 1997 to 2008, have been reeling since their run of 25 straight postseasons ended in 2016.
Detroit was 41-32-9 last season and finished with a winning record for the first time since its last playoff appearance.
Yzerman re-signed Patrick Kane last summer and signed some free agents, including Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract worth $9.5 million after he helped the Florida Panthers hoist the Cup.
PENTICTON, B.C. – Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he’s been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season’s playoffs.
The 28-year-old all star says the rehabilitation process has been frustrating, but he has made good progress in recent weeks and is confident he’ll be able to return to playing.
He says he and his medical team have spent the last few months talking to specialists around the world, and have not found a single other hockey player who has dealt with the same injury.
Demko missed several weeks of the last season with a knee ailment and played just one game in Vancouver’s playoff run last spring before going down with the current injury.
He was not on the ice with his teammates as the Canucks started training camp in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday, but skated on his own before the sessions began.
Demko posted a 35-14-2 record with a .918 percentage, a 2.45 goals-against average and five shutouts for Vancouver last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — No. 1 Texas will start Arch Manning at quarterback Saturday against Louisiana-Monroe while regular starter Quinn Ewers continues to recover from a strained muscle in his abdomen, coach Steve Sarkisian said Thursday.
It will be the first career start for Manning, a second year freshman. He relieved Ewers in the second quarter last week against UTSA, and passed for four touchdowns and ran for another in a 56-7 Texas victory.
Manning is the son of Cooper Manning, the grandson of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning, and the nephew of Super Bowl-winning QBs Peyton and Eli Manning.
Ewers missed several games over the previous two seasons with shoulder and sternum injuries.
The Longhorns are No. 1 for the first time since 2008 and Saturday’s matchup with the Warhawks is Texas’ last game before the program starts its first SEC schedule against Mississippi State on Sept. 28.
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