Sixers vs. Raptors Game 1: Storylines to watch

The Sixers’ postseason begins Saturday night in Philadelphia.

Here are the essentials for Game 1 of the team’s first-round series against the Raptors:

When: 6 p.m. ET with Sixers Pregame Live at 5:30 p.m.
Where: Wells Fargo Center
Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Live stream: NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com and the MyTeams app

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And here are storylines to watch:

The Harden questions

Every James Harden performance will be intensely scrutinized. He surely knows that and didn’t seem remotely concerned about it, but the Sixers acquired Harden in February because they envisioned the 32-year-old being an elite playoff co-star alongside Joel Embiid.

Now that the postseason is here, a few major questions linger with Harden. Will his health and explosiveness be good enough to play effective, aggressive basketball for 40 minutes per game? How comfortable will he be taking the catch-and-shoot threes that result from Embiid post-ups? Will his shooting numbers (40.2 percent from the field, 32.6 percent from three-point range with the Sixers) rise in big games?

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“I’m approaching him like he’s James Harden — really,” Sixers head coach Doc Rivers said Friday. “One of the great players in our league, and that’s what he’ll be in this playoff series. And that’s what Joel will be. We’re going to make sure he’s in all the positions to be that, make sure Joel’s in all the positions to be that.

“And not only be great scoring, but both of them also have to be great at creating scoring opportunities for everybody else. They both have the ability to do that, and they both will do that in this series.”

Will Milton help in handling ‘chaos’ from Raptors?

All available evidence suggests Shake Milton, Matisse Thybulle and Georges Niang will be three key bench players for the Sixers this series. (In case you missed it, Thybulle will be ineligible for the games in Toronto because he’s not fully vaccinated.)

The Sixers will look for Milton to provide well-rounded, solid play. Whether or not he manages any scoring flurries, Milton’s size (6-foot-5 with a 7-foot wingspan) and ability to play through contact might be handy against a physical, attacking defense.

“Toronto, the way they play defense, they’re scrambling nonstop,” Milton said. “It’s almost just chaos. I feel like you’ve got to be able to knock down threes, of course — catch-and-shoot opportunities — but also be able to put the ball on the floor and get to your spot a little bit.

“I think that’s what the playoffs in general are about. Teams take away your plays, they take away your bread and butters … so you’ve got to be able to think the game and be able to break your man down, whether it’s for yourself or for your teammates.”

The backup center picture

Can the Sixers stay steady during Embiid’s time on the bench?

Outside of using non-center lineups — Niang and Tobias Harris sharing a frontcourt, for instance — the Sixers’ options behind Embiid are 22-year-old Paul Reed, 33-year-old DeAndre Jordan and 37-year-old Paul Millsap. Rookie center Charles Bassey is out with a right shoulder injury.

The sense here is the Sixers will (and should) play Reed, who scored 25 points on 12-for-14 shooting in the Sixers’ regular-season finale, but we shall see.

“I love Paul Reed,” Jordan said Saturday after the Sixers’ shootaround. “He’s young, he’s active, he’s hungry, he’s energetic. We talk about him being able to control his fouling. That’s something we kind of make fun of him about. But I love it because he’s aggressive. I don’t know how old Paul is — 21, 22 years old? I was fouling a lot at that point, too. It’s just because he’s so excited to be out there. But I love his energy, I love his aggressiveness, and I think that he’s going to be great for us.”

Reed didn’t sound at all daunted by the Raptors’ rebounding strength.

“I’m a great rebounder, too,” he said, “so I just go in there with a dog mentality and go grab every rebound I can.”