Game two tonight in Toronto.

The Sixers looked out of sync offensively in game one while Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakam looked like the second coming of Michael Jordan and Karl Malone out there.

Assuming those guys function more like humans and less like robots on Monday night, here are three things the Sixers can try to do to give themselves a chance to steal a road game up in Ontario.

1. Keep Ben on Kawhi as much as possible

45 points on 69.6% shooting for Kawhi Leonard in game one.

The guy who did the best job defending him was Ben Simmons, who held Kawhi to 4-9 shooting, including an 0-3 three-point mark while forcing a turnover and committing just one shooting foul.

For comparison, here’s how the rest of the Sixers fared:

Not well.

They did not fare well.

Kawhi shot 12 for 13 against the trio of Jimmy Butler, James Ennis, and Tobias Harris, who matched up with him on 45 possessions.

Of course it’s not as simple as sticking Ben on Leonard every time down the floor. The Raptors will run pick and rolls in an effort to force switches and mismatches. Rotations and scrambles happen. And in a number of cases Saturday night, I thought Toronto did a really nice job of pushing the pace off Philadelphia’s missed shots, which forced the Sixers into cross-matching while getting back in transition defense.

On plays like this one, Brett Brown’s team didn’t have the luxury of matching up the way they’d like, since it was just about getting bodies on bodies while tracking back:

Butler passes off Kawhi to Tobias Harris there, while Ben is dropping back and keeping an eye on Kyle Lowry. Leonard drives on Harris and hits a fadeaway from the baseline.

It’s not always ideal, trying to find those matchups every time Toronto is in possession of the ball, but if the Sixers hit some shots, it will allow them to set their defense and stick Ben on Kawhi.

2. Find your 8th man

I wrote after game one that I didn’t think the inclusion of Furkan Korkmaz was that big of a deal.

Why?

Because I don’t see any great options off the bench. I don’t know if Zhaire Smith is a better choice. He’s played 7 career NBA games. Jonathon Simmons tends to foul and offers little offensively. T.J. McConnell could give you some energy, but we know about his limitations as well. Jonah Bolden hasn’t looked great in the postseason.

One adjustment Brett Brown made for game two against Brooklyn was that he dropped both J. Simmons and McConnell and installed the point-Butler lineup, a unit that looked like this:

  1. Jimmy Butler (ball handler)
  2. James Ennis
  3. Mike Scott
  4. Tobias Harris (secondary ball handler)
  5. Boban Marjanovic

The Sixers ran a lot of pick and roll with that lineup, a lot of 35 and 45 PNR with Boban screening for Butler and Harris.

It was a very efficient lineup, putting up these statistics in the Brooklyn series:

  • 26 total minutes on the floor
  • 119.2 offensive rating
  • 84.7 defensive rating
  • 34.9 net rating
  • 53.8 field goal percentage
  • 45.5 three-point percentage

I think if the majority of the offense in this second unit is coming from Harris and Butler, then you can drop Furkan for a defensive piece instead, which limits your three-point threat but helps hold down the fort a little bit more. Boban is also a liability with his movement in this series, so if he has to be out there, I think having Zhaire, T.J., or Jonathon Simmons as a complementary piece gives you more defensive bite than Furkan. You could also try Bolden as a four in this lineup, Harris as a three, and just try to play really big against a Raptors second unit that features Serge Ibaka at center.

3. Get Joel into better positions

Joel Embiid is listed as probable with gastroenteritis, which means they’ll just pump some fluids in him and he’ll be good to go.

I think so…

Anyway, he struggled against Marc Gasol in game one. I thought Gasol did a really nice job of setting his feet and holding position with low leverage, the same way Al Horford defends Joel. He doesn’t put his arms up and allow cheap rip-through foul calls, which Joel thrives on.

So the Sixers will need to get Embiid some easier looks and some better post positioning. They tried to do it early in game one with baseline screens from JJ Redick and others, though most of the time Toronto was able to just junk up the paint and push Joel a little further out than he’d like start. I still think it’s a good idea, using Redick as a screener, because he was having a hellish time dealing with Raptor pressure on the three point line.

I actually thought Joel looked okay rolling and cutting to the basket on Saturday. On a play like this one, you can draw Gasol out a bit, then make him backpedal, which isn’t what a 34-year-old big man wants to do:

Great pass from Butler, blown layup for Joel. But Pascal Siakam is chasing there and Gasol has Embiid and Butler both coming right at him. The only issue with that play is Kawhi sagging off Simmons, since Ben isn’t a threat to shoot. I also like Simmons a screener and Brett went to that more as the Brooklyn series carried on.

For what it’s worth, Joel didn’t turn the ball over in game one, so it wasn’t like he was forcing bad passes. He was attacking a clogged paint, which resulted in some ugly, off-balance looking stuff and only two assists on the night.

Joel was 2-12 in contested field goals in game one, and he was 1-8 against Gasol while hitting 4 of 9 shots against Ibaka. Toronto is excellent on the perimeter, so the Sixers might have more success playing in and out rather than side to side against a mobile team with long arms.

Brett Brown can help design some stuff for Joel, but it starts with Embiid putting himself in the right mental state, because he can be so much better than what we saw from him in game one.