If the Philadelphia 76ers want one thing out of Game 2 of their second-round playoff series with the Raptors that they didn’t get in Game 1, it’s more ball movement on offence.

Facing one of the league’s top-rated post-season defences, the Sixers were forced into a static and staid game and cannot survive that way in Monday’s Game 2.

“Defensively, they’re a great team guarding the first few ball-movement players,” Sixers guard Ben Simmons said Sunday. “But after that, it’s a lot tougher for them. So for us, we’ve just got to move the ball and just play the way we play. We showed glimpses of that, but we didn’t do it enough.”

The question is whether they didn’t do it enough because the Raptors are too good, even as a long possession unfolds, or if they didn’t do it enough because it’s not in their nature to have the necessary discipline to let possessions unfold.

“Their defence was fantastic (Saturday) night,” Sixers guard J.J. Redick said. “I won’t bore you with the statistics, but we were significantly better when we passed twice or more, so we have to realize that this may not be a first-option offence for us. We may need to be able to get to the second side and second or third options to break down their defence.”

The key for the Raptors will be to make sure Philadelphia doesn’t have the time or space to make those third or fourth passes.

“I think we’re applying a lot of pressure, and sometimes (against) that pressure they’ll run a pressure-release play,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said, “but there’s other guys there to cover it up, and there’s another cover-up, and that’s what team defence is. That’s what we’re striving for. We like to be an up-in-your-face team and, understanding these guys are good, they’ll find other ways to relieve pressure and you rely on the rest of your defence.”

SIXERS SEE HOPE: For the Sixers, it’s not a matter of if they can be better. They must if they expect to win. Regardless of what Toronto did in Game 1, the Sixers have to do their stuff better. “I’ve gone through the tape a few times,” coach Brett Brown said. “I can tell you, I wake up good to go. Like, I really feel that we can come in and be better than we were the first game.”

LOWRY’S LOYALTIES: Raptors all-star Kyle Lowry is as Philadelphia as it gets — born there, raised there, lives there, went to university at Villanova — and he’s one the more accomplished NBA players to come out of the city. And the Raptors-Sixers matchup in the second round of the playoffs does nothing to get him going. Try as the media might, Lowry is not biting on the “Philly kid tries to slay his hometown team” narrative. “I’m keeping this as strictly business as possible” he said Sunday. “It’s definitely Philadelphia, but it’s the opponent right now. It’s the enemy, and that’s all that really matters. It’s about my team right now, Toronto, and that’s all that really matters is us getting better every game, every possession that we possibly can.”

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