As the 27th season in Raptors history was brought to an anticlimactic ending, sent to the dustbin of history in Thursday night’s 35-point blowout at the hands of the Sixers, it was worth listening to Philadelphia’s James Harden pay tribute to the vanquished.
“Man, that was one of the toughest series I’ve played in,” Harden said, speaking of his team’s six-game advancement over the Raptors.
Harden pointed to Toronto’s unconventional lineup, which features a handful of players, mostly in the six-foot-seven to six-foot-nine range, with long wingspans and above-average athleticism, which allows the Raptors to easily switch defensive assignments on the fly, limiting an opponent’s ability to exploit mismatches.