Philadelphia 76ers: 3 keys to a Game 3 win over the Toronto Raptors

2. Shutdown the Raptors’ bench

In the regular season, the Toronto Raptors were infamous not only for having a deadly starting five highlighted by the likes of Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, and Philly native Kyle Lowry (who’s been downright bad this postseason) but for having one of the deepest benches in the entire league.

Headlined by players like Fred VanVleet, Norman Powell, O.G. Anunoby, and eventually Serge Ibaka, no one was going to argue that the Philadelphia 76ers had a better bench going into the series, but two games in, that has very much been the case.

Split over two games, James Ennis has singlehandedly outscored the Raptors in both outings so far this series; scoring 11 points vs. 10 by the Raptors bench in Game 1, and 13 points in Game 2 vs. five.

And if the Sixers are going to pull out a win in Game 3, they’ll need to shut down Nick Nurse‘s bench once more.

With only four players logging minutes (plural) coming off the bench for the Raptors in Game 2, combining for five points in 49 combined minutes of action, the Sixers’ reserves should be able to outperform Toronto once more and soak up valuable minutes while Brown’s starters take a breather.