 | Amir Johnson, PF 27 MIN | 2-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 7 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 4 PTS | +4 +/-Tried his best to pull the Raptors’ team defence up by their socks in the first quarter, but couldn’t do much to stop the Sixers’ parade to the basket. He didn’t do anything poorly, per se, but just didn’t have the kind of impact you’d expect him to have in a game where he’s essentially playing Nerlens Noel and a bunch of undrafted projects. Kind of invisible. |  | |||||||
 | James Johnson, PF 19 MIN | 2-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 2 BLK | 2 TO | 4 PTS | +1 +/-Quite a “meh” game, though the team intentionally looked away from him on offense in what appeared to be a concerted attempt to get Valanciunas and DeRozan going. His two blocks were nice, including one huge chase down effort, but those were negated by his two turnovers and three fouls. We shouldn’t be expecting Johnson to carry the offensive effort, but his drive/low post game are both easy scores against Philly. Just wasn’t needed tonight. |  | |||||||
 | Jonas Valanciunas, C 23 MIN | 1-2 FG | 3-4 FT | 5 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 3 TO | 5 PTS | +12 +/-As usual, the Raptors made an effort to get him going early, and he showed a couple nice post moves that resulted in a score and a couple trips to the line. After that, though, he totally disappeared offensively as things shifted back to the outside. He gave up a ton of open midrange shots to Henry Sims and Jerami Grant that they converted, but I’m willing to overlook that tonight because he was the only thing coming even close to rim protection that the Raptors had. He was probably worried that it’d just be a parade to the hoop if he left the paint. He may have been right. | | |||||||
 | Greivis Vasquez, PG 28 MIN | 5-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 5 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 12 PTS | 0 +/-Good shooting numbers, and he did a solid job of facilitating the offence, getting the ball into the hot hands on the court and generally making the right decisions. He was eviscerated on defence by Ish Smith and Isaiah Canaan, however, which was a big reason why the Sixers seemed to live at the rim for the first few quarters. A Jekyll and Hyde performance. Come back soon, Lowry. |  | |||||||
 | DeMar DeRozan, SG 38 MIN | 12-24 FG | 10-10 FT | 9 REB | 5 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 35 PTS | +13 +/-A complete game for DeRozan, and one that was sorely needed. It came at the expense of his team at time, but that’s what teams like the Sixers are for. Got to the free throw line regularly, but picked his spots, hitting the midrange when it was there and smartly moving the ball around the court when lanes weren’t open. A very nice bounce back performance after some rough outings. |  | |||||||
 | Patrick Patterson, PF 30 MIN | 6-10 FG | 1-1 FT | 4 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 15 PTS | +7 +/-An ugly start – missing his first two wide open looks – gave way to an extremely efficient second half, where he made pretty much every shot he took. Inside, outside, you name it, he had it. Defensively, I would have liked to have seen some more aggressive work at the rim, but it’s important to keep in mind that when he plays in a rotation with Hansbrough the two of them are essentially taking turns playing out of position. A strong effort tonight, and one nearly as necessary as DeMar’s. |  | |||||||
 | Tyler Hansbrough, PF 16 MIN | 3-4 FG | 0-2 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 6 PTS | -1 +/-Really liked how he went at Nerlens Noel despite his size disadvantage – wound up with a big block and a nice dunk for good measure. He’ll always have his own physical limitations playing as what is essentially an undersized 5, but did all he could tonight with what he had. Good work. |  | |||||||
 | Terrence Ross, SF 29 MIN | 4-10 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 12 PTS | +10 +/-Apart from some rough Jerami Grant rim stuffery, was essentially relegated to spot-up three point duty with DeMar and Patterson carrying the bulk of the scoring load. He did fine from out there, hitting 4 of 7 three point attempts. | | |||||||
 | Louis Williams, SG 30 MIN | 6-15 FG | 7-7 FT | 3 REB | 5 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 21 PTS | +9 +/-I was actually quite pleased with his work facilitating early – he seemed to be making a big effort to not take as many YOLO shots as necessary and fed the ball to DeRozan and Patterson on the regular. Then he went “hey wait, I’m Lou Williams!” and started jacking up early in the shot clock 3s. He got to the line enough to be a net positive tonight, but when you’re 2 for 9 from 3, that’s entirely too many 3s. He can put up points, though, and helped carry the scoring load when DeRozan was on the bench. | | |||||||
 | Dwane Casey I don’t have a lot to criticize from a coaching standpoint other than the effort in what was a must-win game. Early on, the Raptors seemed to be waiting for Philly to give them the ball, giving up the lane on what seemed to be every possession. The intensity turned up about halfway through the third, and won’t kill you against a team like the Sixers, but the defensive lethargy was concerning. Beyond that, though, I thought he did a solid job managing rotations and guiding the ship to the finish line. | | |||||||
Four Things We Saw
- 54 points in the paint from a team like Philly is just unacceptable, doubly so when it seemed like the reason they were so plentiful was because of general disinterest in defending the hoop. It made watching the first half defensively quite difficult at times, and it was only because of the fact that the Sixers are barely an NBA team that they got away with it for so long (then again, that might be why they did it, too).
- Don’t let that make you think this game wasn’t a good win, though. Sure, it could have been a huge blowout if all things went well, but in the end, this was a much needed wire to wire win that featured a much-needed bounceback performance from the guy expected to carry the load for the team with Lowry out. Winning against Philly might not mean as much as it would over say, the Cavs, but a win of any kind is important at this point.
- It would have been nice to see Hayes, Stiemsma or even Nogeuira get some run tonight against the Sixers with the team struggling to guard the rim. This is the kind of matchup where you can get away with having one net zero on offence, and against Philly there shouldn’t be a reason to have to stick with a 9 man rotation.
- I really liked what I saw from both DeMar and Patterson tonight. Two very complete games (DeMar threatened a huge triple double before his assist numbers tapered), and seeing that consistently will be essential to challenging the conference’s top teams until Lowry returns (and after, obviously).
