Nick Nurse Highlights Embiid's Improvements Since Last Playoff Battle

A few playoff runs ago, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Toronto Raptors met in the second round. A lot has changed since then. At the time, the Raptors were

A few playoff runs ago, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Toronto Raptors met in the second round. A lot has changed since then. At the time, the Raptors were headlined by players like Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry.

Meanwhile, the Sixers had Ben Simmons and Jimmy Butler as co-stars of their superstar center, Joel Embiid.

While a lot has changed about who is on the roster and who isn't these days for Toronto and Philadelphia, a lot has also changed about the players who remain on both teams to this day.

Although he had his struggles during the Sixers' 2019 playoff run, Joel Embiid was still the most talented player on the floor for Philly against the Raptors. When the two teams meet for a first-round bout beginning on Saturday night, that will remain the case.

Raptors head coach Nick Nurse, who coached against Embiid and the Sixers during their championship run, remembers a lot about that series since that year was huge for his career on a personal level.

And after facing Embiid numerous times since the Raptors and the Sixers battled it out in the 2019 playoffs, Nurse sees some obvious improvements and changes in Embiid's game these days. Following a practice session on Wednesday, Nurse pointed out the differences between then and now regarding Embiid's game.

"I think that as any of these great players in the NBA go on each year, they see a lot more repetitions of coverages, and they learn how to play them better and better as the games and repetitions go by," Nurse explained to reporters. 

"I think he's done a great job of a number of things; Getting position, getting the ball, staying faced up more, he's shooting ultra-confident in every shot he takes, whether it's a post up or it's an elbow, or it's a one-legged fade away, or it's a three-point or a step-back three, whatever. He's ultra-confident in shooting them. So that's probably the biggest thing. There's a wide array of faced-up plays that he'll make that make it hard to stop because he can shoot over the top of you."

When the Raptors and the Sixers met for the first time this year back in November, Embiid was in the midst of a nine-game absence due to COVID-19. On December 28, he faced Toronto for the first time this season and had himself a stellar 36-point outing in a Philadelphia win over the Raptors.

Later on in the year, Embiid had a rough shooting night at home against the Raptors as he went 6-20 from the field, scoring 21 points. Then when the Sixers and Raptors met for the final week of the regular season, Embiid collected 30 points in the disappointing five-point loss.

The Raptors have proven many times throughout Nurse's coaching stint that they have answers for Embiid. However, they understand it will be a tall task to slow the big man down in a seven-game series. Especially these days, as Embiid is playing at a much higher level.

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