The Philadelphia 76ers struggled to guard Pascal Siakam in the regular season last year, as he averaged 30.3 points - his second-highest output against any team in 2021-2022 - on 51 percent shooting from the field.Philadelphia 76ers/Toronto Raptors Quick Stats That should be the case in this next season as well, unless Toronto can acquire a true big man by next season’s trade deadline. Toronto’s switch and trap-heavy defensive schemes may have given them the edge in last year’s regular season - the Raptors won the season series, 3-1 - but when the game slows down in the playoffs, Embiid’s size advantage proved too great an uphill climb for the undersized Raps to overcome. #JOEL EMBIID STATS FREE#What they did add was more 6’7-6’10 forwards, having signed Otto Porter Jr., Josh Jackson, Juancho Hernangomez, and DJ Wilson in free agency - none of whom have a puncher’s chance at stopping Embiid on the low block. Despite giving up three 30-point outings to Embiid in the series, Toronto did little this past offseason to try obtain more size in hopes of slowing the Cameroonian MVP candidate in the future. The Sixers were able to get revenge in last year’s playoffs, as they downed the center-less Raptors in six games. The world will not soon forget Kawhi Leonard’s shot that tiptoed around the rim before ultimately falling to send the Raptors into the Eastern Conference Finals and effectively ending the Jimmy Butler era for the Philadelphia 76ers. #JOEL EMBIID STATS SERIES#That seismic shift in talent into the Atlantic Conference culminated in one of the most memorable second-round series in NBA history, as Philly and Toronto waged war in a seven-game dogfight. In the span of one calendar year, the Sixers traded for both Tobias Harris and Jimmy Butler, building a new powerhouse and title contender in the Eastern Conference. Ujiri and Toronto happened to take that leap at the exact same time that the Philadelphia 76ers decided to go all in on their star pairing of Embiid and Ben Simmons. Raptors President Masai Ujiri was able to take that core over the top by rolling the dice on an all-or-nothing trade, moving for Kawhi Leonard, coming off of a career-threatening injury. While Philadelphia was in the thick of reaping Sam Hinkie’s harvest, Toronto built themselves into a regular-season powerhouse behind the dynamic duo of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan.
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