By Matt Gregan, Sports Talk Philly Staff Writer 
The Philadelphia 76ers used a big night from Tyrese Maxey to propel them to a 131-111 win over the Toronto Raptors in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Maxey finished as a team-high plus-20 on his way to setting a new season-high, scoring 38 points on 14-of-21 shooting from the field and 5-of-8 shooting from three-point range.
Tobias Harris added in 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting (3 of 5 from beyond the arc) to go with six rebounds, six assists, a block and a steal. James Harden finished with 22 points, five rebounds and 14 assists.
Pascal Siakam led the Raptors with 24 points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
The Sixers put together a dominant performance in Game 1. How will Toronto respond in Game 2? Will the Sixers be able to take care of business and take a 2-0 series lead? Game 2 is on Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center. Here are three observations from the team's Game 1 victory:
Maxey's dominant night
The Sixers supporting cast stepped up in a major way, led by Maxey's huge performance. He scored the Sixers' first points of the game on a floater and generally provided a ton of energy and production for the team's offense throughout the night.
He provided everything the Sixers could have asked from him. He knocked down threes, was quick in transition and played with tremendous poise and confidence, especially for a second-year player.
Maxey completely took over the game in the third quarter, scoring 21 of his points in that frame. He scored 17 points in the final 4:42 of the third quarter. He had the jam-packed Wells Fargo Center crowd roaring on multiple occasions, especially after he knocked down a three from way downtown to expand the team's lead to 105-85 with 32.4 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
HAHAHAHAHAHA TYRESE MAXEY WHAAAAAAAAAT pic.twitter.com/7veTiEw23v
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) April 17, 2022
Maxey connected on five of his eight attempts from three-point range on the night. The Raptors had no answer for the second-year guard from Kentucky. A lot of the attention heading into the series was being paid to Embiid and Harden, but if Maxey continues to play the way he did in Game 1 the Sixers will be able to make some serious noise in the playoffs.
In addition to Maxey's scintillating performance, Harris also stepped up for the Sixers in their Game 1 victory. He continued his recent stretch of good play, stepping into his shots with confidence while filling up the stat sheet. It took some time for him to find his legs in the Embiid-Harden offense, but he has successfully adapted to his new role in the offense and is playing at an efficient, high level.
Sixers step up their physicality
One area the Sixers should have a big advantage on in this series with the Raptors is in size and physicality. The Raptors sent out a small-ball starting lineup, but it did not fare well against the Sixers starters. Joel Embiid came out and was determined to play aggressively and with a ton of physicality early on. The team picked up five offensive rebounds and five second-chance points in just the first five minutes of action, prompting Raptors' head coach Nick Nurse to sub in some of his big men.
Embiid had a relatively quiet night overall, finishing fourth on the team in scoring with 19 points. Toronto did a relatively solid job defending Embiid and forcing him to quickly get rid of the ball. However, he still did some damage on the offensive end in part by getting to the free-throw line, where he shot 9 of 11. One possession late in the first half encapsulated what Embiid needs to do against the Raptors. He got deep inside position and was able to beat the double team by receiving the pass and, without having to put the ball on the floor, turn and hit an and-one out of the post.
https://t.co/bgcDwo0QuA pic.twitter.com/yZkz2KzfCV
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) April 16, 2022
Getting Embiid the ball in situations where he can make quick decisions and not have to put the ball down on the floor is what the Sixers will need to do in order to beat the quick double and triple teams heading his way.
The Raptors are one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the league, and they killed the Sixers on the offensive glass in the regular season. However, things were very much different early on. The Sixers were winning the rebounding battle at halftime 25-15 and 8-2 on the offensive glass. Toronto recovered somewhat in the second half to lose the overall rebounding battle by two at the end of the night. The Sixers won the second-chance points battle, 17-7.
Also, Paul Reed received the backup center minutes and helped the Sixers avoid their characteristic struggles in the non-Embiid minutes. While Reed (three points, three rebounds, one steal, one block and four fouls) did not overwhelm the stat sheet as he did in the team's final three games of the regular season, he still provided good energy and played solid defense. The team won the non-Embiid minutes by four points, a huge positive sign going forward.
Sixers adjust to Toronto's defense of Harden
The Raptors came out with a game plan geared in part at clogging the driving lanes and preventing Harden from being able to get a ton of clean, easy drives to the basket. Their defensive strategy worked for the most part, but Harden and the Sixers found ways to circumvent what Toronto was trying to do.
The Sixers run a lot of pick-and-rolls involving Harden, but they mixed it up in Game 1 by using Maxey as a screener for Harden. The pairing had a lot of success as the Raptors struggled to make the correct read on whether to prevent the Harden drive or whether to let Maxey get open beyond the arc coming off the pick action.
Harden also started getting back into a rhythm from three-point range. He knocked down multiple of his patented step-back threes, including one that ended a 17-4 Toronto run in the third quarter.
5️⃣ quick ones for James Harden 😤 pic.twitter.com/eCppGEYjid
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) April 16, 2022
Harden and Maxey have quickly developed a good chemistry on the floor in the latter half of this season. They present a dynamic duo, especially in the fast break where Harden's passing and court vision can combine with Maxey's speed and ability to quickly get down the floor. One of the highlight plays of the night came midway through the third quarter on a brilliant bounce bass in transition to a sprinting Maxey who finished with a reverse layup.
that's tuff. 😤 pic.twitter.com/jSfDJzFzeZ
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) April 17, 2022
The Sixers dominated in transition in Game 1, scoring 29 fast-break points compared to just 10 for Toronto. A big reason for the team's success at holding down Toronto's powerful transition offense was crisp ball movement and a lack of turnovers. The Sixers dished out 29 assists while committing just three turnovers, therefore preventing the Raptors from really being able to get out and run in transition. If they can continue to beat Toronto at their own game both in transition and on the glass, the Sixers will be in great shape to win the series.
Three-point shooting was another area the Sixers found a lot of success at in Game 1. Harden did a good job playing unselfishly, swinging the ball around to the plethora of open shooters around the arc. The team connected on 16 of their 32 attempts from deep, led by Maxey with five threes and Harden with four. Game 1 was picture perfect for the Sixers and it will be interesting to see if they can play with this level of consistency on both ends of the floor throughout the remainder of the series.
