Philadelphia 76ers roundtable: Second round series predictions vs. Toronto Raptors

The Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors will do battle in the second round. Who will move on to face the winner of Boston-Milwaukee?

After dispatching the Brooklyn Nets in five games, the Philadelphia 76ers will shift their focus to the Toronto Raptors. The season series went 3-1 in favor of Toronto, with the Raptors winning all three games in which Kawhi Leonard played. It was an emphatically bad matchup for the Sixers.

There’s optimism that the postseason will provide a different storyline, though. With Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris on board, the Sixers have more star-power in the starting five than any Eastern Conference team. The second unit remains a concern, but the starting five alone should challenge Toronto.

It will be a series defined by adjustments. Both Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons will face difficult tests. Marc Gasol places among the best Embiid defenders in the NBA. Kawhi Leonard forced Simmons into an 11-turnover game in the teams’ first battle this season. Brown will need to utilize both in an effective manner, employing them differently than the Brooklyn series.

The Raptors don’t have as much firepower in the starting five, but there’s still plenty in Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam and Kyle Lowry. Take into account the benches for each team, and the Raptors emerge as clear favorites. Most media members seem to side with Toronto. By a large margin.

Philadelphia will also be without Mike Scott in Game 1 (and potentially beyond), leaving a sizable dent in an already-weak second unit. How Brett Brown fills those minutes could determine the Sixers’ ability to keep pace on the road.

The series kicks off at 7:30 PM E.T. on Saturday, April 27. We had several writers offer up opinions and predictions for the series. I’ll start with mine:

Prediction: Raptors in 6