The hour of the adjustments is upon us. Minutes matching, staggering, shifts in deployment. The Raptors unexpectedly dropped game two against the Philadelphia 76ers, and we were left with three days in which we could agonize over any potential changes they might make to be better prepared for game three.
The consensus seems to be that the Raptors must match Marc Gasol’s minutes to Joel Embiid’s, thereby taking full advantage of Gasol’s unique ability to defend Embiid one-on-one. That’s the change fans will be scrutinizing most closely, but they’ll also certainly be looking to see if there is any change in how the various members of the Raptors bench are deployed, as Serge Ibaka, Norman Powell and Fred VanVleet have struggled mightily as a three-man unit.