As the clock wound down on the Raptors-76ers game, Nick Nurse and Joel Embiid talked. (0:27)
The 76ers star heard the Raptors coach complain about the way he was treated in the opener of the series.
The All-Star big man had a brief conversation after the 76ers took a 2-0 lead in the series.
What was the message of the player?
He is a great coach and always has been a fan.
I told him to stop talking about calls.
In the first quarter, he had 19 of those points and 12 of those free throw attempts, and he came out with a clear intent to impose his will on the game.
Raptors forward OG Anunoby and Embiid got technical fouls for getting tangled up in the opening minutes. After the Raptors jumped out to an 11-2 lead, the big man's repeated incursions into the paint put several Raptors into early foul trouble and saw him wear out a path to the foul line.
They are bound to get to the free throw line if you triple-team them all the time.
Nurse disagreed with him. Nurse said there was some slight improvement on Tuesday, but not enough, after he said following Game 1 that he should have been called for several other fouls.
At least there wasn't as many elbows thrown to the face tonight that we had to endure, Nurse said, tongue firmly planted in his cheek after expressing his frustration with what he thought was a clear charge call.
He said there wasn't much to it, as for his conversation with Embiid, one Nurse was asked about during his postgame availability.
Nurse said that he was going to keep making all the free throws if he kept fouling.
A good player, man. I have a lot of respect for him. He is playing well here. We are trying to compete against him and he is trying to compete against us.
The competition has been pretty one-sided so far. Toronto was without Scottie Barnes after he injured his ankle in the first game of the series.
Gary Trent Jr., who missed all three of his shots and committed four fouls, played 10 minutes after spending the past two days away from the team. Nurse admitted after the game that Trent probably shouldn't have played, though he credited him for giving it a try.
Philadelphia imposed its physical will on Toronto for the second game in a row. The Philadelphia 76ers won the rebound battle for the second game in a row, and they shot over 50% from the field and took 30 free throws to beat the Toronto Raptors.
In the first quarter, Fred VanVleet, who scored 15 of his 20 points in the first, traded baskets with Embiid, who roared on several occasions in the first quarter.
The tone for the rest of the team was set by his physical play in the first quarter, which was the reason why Philadelphia pulled ahead for good early in the second.
76ers forward Danny Green said that he let it be known that they were not going to take the abuse.
He injured his left foot late in the first half and his right elbow in the third quarter. He played through both injuries and will be available for Game 3 on Wednesday.
In fact, Embiid already was looking forward to the challenge of going up 2-0 on the Raptors team, and said he expects there to be less fouls called in Game 3 -- and that he will be ready to play even more aggressively, if he needs to.
The league and the referees are the same. They are not going to call for some fouls. You have to be more aggressive. You have to go to the rim with more power. You have to jump over people to finish. When the refs come in and the Raptors are complaining, that's an adjustment.
I have been doing this for a long time and know that the adjustment is usually the case. I would become more physical in that case.
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