Raptors expect more physicality in all-important Game 3

As the expression goes, no team is really in trouble in the postseason until they’ve lost at home.

So, it goes without saying that Wednesday’s Game 3 is about as big as it can get for the Toronto Raptors.

Down 2-0 to the Philadelphia 76ers in their first-round series, the Raps are going to have to dig deep to climb out of the hole they’ve put themselves in. Head coach Nick Nurse was quick to address that after Game 2.

“Here we are, [down] 2-0. The way we finished the game, I don't see our guys are discouraged at all. I think they'll rise up and they'll play better. And you know we need to get one. We need to get one and we get ourselves back in the series,” Nurse told reporters.

History hasn't been exactly kind to the Raptors in the playoffs when facing an 0-2 series deficit. The Raps came back after falling down 0-2 to the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2019 Eastern Conference final on their way to winning the NBA Championship. But that's it. 

The seven other times it's happened, Toronto has been eliminated, most recently in 2020 against the Boston Celtics in the Orlando bubble.

The #Raptors have only won 1 series when they’ve been down 0-2. Will they come back and win this series? pic.twitter.com/Y4AKFRl350

A big theme from the first two games of this series – both double-digit Sixers wins – has been the physical play and a whistle the Raptors say has been heavy in Philadelphia’s favour.

“We’ve got to survive some of the physicality out there,” Nurse said Monday night. “You heard me saying it after the game, we got ran over a bunch when we were legal, which was true. There were several shots to the face, which I don’t understand [why they] were not reviewed.”

The 76ers took 34 free throws in their 131-111 Game 1 victory and