Former Raptors Show Toronto Was Onto Something With Smothering Defense vs Embiid

Nick Nurse should have known what Joel Embiid was up against.

OG Anunoby had spent most of the first three games against the Philadelphia 76ers defending on the perimeter. He’d taken on the Tyrese Maxey assignment with some Kelly Oubre and Kyle Lowry work on the side. But in Game 4, the New York Knicks made a change, sliding the former Toronto Raptors forward up the positional spectrum and onto Embiid in crunch time.

It was a trick right out of Nurse’s playbook.

Just last season Anunoby held his own against the 7-foot superstar, holding Embiid to 4-for-12 shooting with a pair of turnovers in their three games against one another, per NBA Stats.

On Sunday, it worked again.

Anunoby played 22.9 partial possessions across 4:50 minutes on Embiid, per NBA Stats, holding the former league MVP to just five points on 1-for-16 shooting. He twice blocked Embiid’s shot attempts in the first quarter and then kept Embiid under wraps in the fourth thanks to his exhausting defense against the Cameroonian big man.

Of course, it wasn’t all Anunoby.

Precious Achiuwa held Embiid to just two points in 7.8 partial defensive possessions across 1:32 minutes, per NBA Stats. Embiid’s lone shot attempt against Achiuwa was a late shot clock three-point attempt that Achiuwa swatted into the crowd.

It was the kind of performance the Raptors had once hoped they’d see in crucial playoff games. They’d built a roster full of versatile wings like Anunoby and Achiuwa who could defend across positions and take on bigger assignments like Embiid.

For New York, that strategy is working. The Knicks closed out Sunday’s win with Anunoby and Achiuwa as their frontcourt and had no problems outrebounding and outworking the 76ers when it mattered.

It was just three years ago that Nurse had tried the same sort of strategy against Embiid. in the 2022 playoffs. This time around, his old schemes with his former players were used against him.