It will be a street fight [slugfest]this upcoming seriessaid the American tactician, Wednesday, at a press conference.

The nurse expects Toronto to roll in the punches against a team that boasted both last season’s NBA top scorer Joel Embiid (30.6 points per game) and another player capable of making great offenses over James Harden (three NBA scoring titles).

The Raptors coach’s choice of metaphor also made his star player Pascal Siakam laugh.

A street fight? Pretty crazy, isn’t it? Are we sure we’re talking about basketball? said the Cameroonian while laughing.

But the 28-year-old agrees with the principle that, while confident, Toronto will not be easy in this series.

I believe this is going to be an intense series. Obviously, our two teams are physical. They have tall players and so do we. I think it will be difficulthe bet.

They also have the NBA’s top scorer so there’s a lot of work to keep an eye on him, he added. All in all, it can do a lot. I won’t say what will be against the street, but we will have a lot of fun. It will be intense!

” I feel like we are entering a new season. Obviously, this is the playoffs. There will be more intensity and more attention to detail […] There will be many ups and downs. Will need to be regular and do the punches. “

The 76ers and Raptors are in the playoffs for the first time since their clash in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 2019. Toronto won seven games because of a memorable basket from Kawhi Leonard to the sound of the siren in the final game.

Since then, the two formations have changed significantly. The Raptors gave their offense to Siakam, Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby after seeing Leonard, Kyle Lowry and others leave the team. The Sixers continue to rely on Embiid, but he is surrounded by a different group of players.

Tactically, therefore, Nick Nurse doesn’t believe his team will get much from games in 2019, but in terms of experience, his new top trio has a lot to offer young players.

Pascal, Fred, OG and Thad (Young) must support Gary (Trent son), Scottie (Barnes) and Precious (Achiuwa)he said.

The latter have little or no playoff experience in the NBA, but have established themselves as important cogs on the Toronto team.

Thaddeus Young really feels it’s his duty within the Raptors to support the youngest. The 15-year NBA veteran was pulled from the San Antonio Spurs by the trade deadline in February and wants to share his advice whenever he has the chance.

My goal is always to help the young players, to make sure they are all with us and they understand everything because at the end of the day, we will need everything to win. We are not a one-man team or duo. All 15 of us need to be ready when it’s timehe told reporters.

Young clarified that the playoffs are a completely different pair of sleeves. His first advice to young players was keep a cool head as much as possible [en séries]. We should not be too high or too low, but always try to be balanced.

Nick Nurse didn’t reveal his plans for the series opening on Saturday, especially since he doesn’t know all of his players will be 100%. Fred VanVleet has long struggled with a knee injury and OG Anunoby, who returned to action in the final game of the season on Sunday, has not been involved in many games since mid -February.

Anyway, he said, the last time we played them (the Sixers) we found a whole new formation that we had never thought of before and that’s probably what made the difference in the series then our best plans might still be ahead.

The first game is Saturday at 6 pm EST in Philadelphia.

The remaining schedule was also announced on Wednesday. Game 2 will be held on Monday at 7:30 pm The series will move to Toronto for Games 3 and 4 on Wednesday April 20 and Saturday April 23.

If additional matches are needed, they will take place on April 25, 28 and 30.