Nurse Remains Frustrated With Lack of Calls Against Embiid Before Game 2

The Toronto Raptors didn’t shy away from revealing their game plan when preparing for the Philadelphia 76ers. As they’ve had success against Sixers’ superstar

The Toronto Raptors didn’t shy away from revealing their game plan when preparing for the Philadelphia 76ers. As they’ve had success against Sixers’ superstar center Joel Embiid in the past, the Raptors intended to throw several guys at Embiid on every offensive possession in an attempt to shake him up.

Embiid didn’t back down in Game 1. While the Sixers’ center didn’t shoot nearly as well as he typically does, he responded well to the pressure by taking care of the ball and finding his open teammates. In addition, Embiid played with a lot of physicality, which had Raptors head coach Nick Nurse questioning a lack of calls against Embiid following their Game 1 loss on Saturday night. 

"We’ve got to believe that if we’re legal defensively that they're going to call those," said Nurse after the game. "Like we had a couple of times where we beat him to the spot, and he bulled us right over, and they just let him lay it in. I don't care if you're 5-foot-11 and 160 pounds. If you beat him to the spot and he runs over, it's a foul. 

“I thought he threw three or four elbows to the face. He got called for one. I mean, we're gonna stand in there. We just need, if we’re legal defensively, then we’ve got to have them called, or we don't have a chance, period. Nobody can guard that guy if they’re just gonna let him run you over time and time again. We're gonna stand in there, and we'll see if we don't get a few more elbows to the face calls and a few more beat him to the spot calls."

Typically, frustration due to a lack of calls would go away 24 hours after a game. However, Nick Nurse remained displeased with the officiating from Saturday night when he addressed reporters in Philadelphia before Game 2 on Monday night.

“We’ve got to survive some of the physicality,” said Nurse on Monday. “I mean, listen, you heard me saying it after the game. We got ran over a bunch when we were legal, which is true. There were several shots to the face, which I don’t understand were not reviewed. There were three, and one was called reviewed. It was two others — there was one to the back of the head, and there was an open hand slap to the face.”

As Nurse and the Raptors prepare for their Game 2 showdown with the Sixers, the Toronto head coach hopes that some of the alleged missed calls he saw when watching the game live and reviewing the film don’t go unnoticed on Monday. 

“I hope that they’ve got enough guts to at least stop the game and look at stuff tonight,” Nurse added. “I don’t mind physicality. It’s the playoffs, and we expect it to be physical, and we’ve got to be able to handle that.”

The Sixers and the Raptors will tip-off for Game 2 at 7:30 PM. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.