People often say the NBA playoffs are like an entirely different sport; that what happened between two teams in the regular season might not matter when they match up in the postseason, when they can game plan for each other better, shorten rotations, and increase the physicality. If you didn’t believe that ahead of Game 1 of the first-round series between the Toronto Raptors and the Philadelphia 76ers, you certainly should now.
The Raptors won the regular-season series 3-1 despite Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby missing three of the games.