The Sixers have dominated the Toronto Raptors across the board through two games, playing explosive basketball without committing turnovers or falling prey to Toronto’s trademark physicality. Tyrese Maxey is making his star turn, Joel Embiid is pissed off, and Tobias Harris is playing the best basketball of his career. Just about everything is going right for Philadelphia.
There’s still plenty of time for Toronto to make this a series. The Raptors’ home crowd is no joke, and Canada’s home-court advantage is something the Sixers will have to contend with — not to mention Matisse Thybulle’s vaccine-related absence. Nick Nurse will continue to adjust, Scottie Barnes might return, and the Sixers are due for a slightly less prolific shooting performance. Even so, it’s getting harder and harder to imagine Toronto winning this series, in part because they haven’t even won the non-Joel Embiid minutes.
With Paul Reed on the court, Philadelphia has outscored Toronto by 12 points in 22 minutes through two games. The Sixers’ ran away from the Raptors with a 15-4 run to open the second quarter in Game 2. That happened with Embiid sitting comfortably on the bench and Paul Reed bringing his unique brand of chaos to the middle of Philly’s defense.
The Sixers have finally found their backup center
After years of failed experiments in the backup center roles — Amir Johnson, Greg Monroe, Mike Muscala, Al Horford — the Sixers have finally tasted competency at the backup center spot. First in the form of Andre Drummond, but he was traded. Now in the form of Paul Reed, the 22-year-old NBA sophomore and reigning G-League MVP who just plays too hard to fail.
Reed still gets in foul trouble. As Doc Rivers noted after Game 2, part of that is his relative unknown status around the league. He’s lanky, aggressive, and nobody outside of Philadelphia really knows who he is. He won’t get the benefit of the doubt on most calls. That said, Reed’s fouls are often a result of game-changing effort. He imposes his will on every possession, making every hustle play in the book and racking up deflections that would make Robert Covington blush.
On hustle alone, Reed has cemented his status as Philadelphia’s best backup center. We will see if DeAndre Jordan gets another bite at the apple if the Sixers advance — Miami plays some bigger backup centers — but if Reed’s current level of play continues, and Doc Rivers truly doesn’t care about Reed’s foul trouble relative to his impact, it’s hard to imagine him going away from the Sixers’ most athletic reserve.
It’s important to emphasize just how wild it is for Philadelphia to win the non-Embiid minutes, especially given their prior experience with Toronto in the playoffs. The Sixers have traditionally crumbled to dust whenever Embiid sniffs the bench, almost regardless of who’s on the court without him. A big reason for the second unit’s success is that James Harden and Tyrese Maxey now take turns running it, but replacing Jordan’s turnstile defense with Reed’s lightning-in-a-bottle intensity has flipped the switch.
There’s no excuse to move away from Reed now. He will continue to get the fouling in check over time, but that almost doesn’t matter — he’s in there for 10 minutes a game, and the Sixers will gladly exchange a couple fouls for a couple forced turnovers.
This is Paul Reed’s time. Hopefully Doc Rivers embraces the victory tour, does away with Jordan, and puts Philadelphia’s best foot forward every night.