The Toronto Raptors have won 10 of 11, steamrolled the Charlotte Hornets in their own gym (seriously, when’s the last time that happened?!) while racking up a season-high 35 assists, and are now tied in the loss column for first place in the Eastern Conference. The Philadelphia 76ers are on the opposite end of the spectrum, having lost seven of their last eight games, including bad home defeats at the hands of the Suns, Lakers and Kings.
Add Joel Embiid’s “questionable” status and this is a Sixers team that should be ripe for the picking. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Embiid is unlikely to play in either of games against Toronto, but is hopeful to return for their Christmas clash against Kristaps Porzingis and the New York Knicks. They are 1-6 without The Process this season compared to 13-10 with him. They’ve been the worst turnover team in the league, and that’s part playing a run-and-gun style, part being a young team learning the game at the NBA level.
J.J. Redick and Amir Johnson were added this offseason to help address some of those concerns, and Trevor Booker is the latest to join the The Process Dads club. He got off to a quick start, averaging 13.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, a block and a steal in his first three games, before spraining his left ankle in that triple-overtime thriller against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
For the Raptors, Dwane Casey will be most pleased about building a big lead and showing no let-up whatsoever. OG Anunoby was the only Raptor to play over 30 minutes, and he made the most of it with a career-high 20 points on 6-of-7 shooting from deep and a team-best plus-28. Serge Ibaka looked energized after four days off and had a season-high 24 himself, but it will be interesting to see how he fares on the second night of a back-to-back. Nonetheless, the heavy lifters DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry combined for 53 minutes and Lowry, especially, will be raring to go in his hometown.
Tip-off is at 7:00pm EST on Sporsnet One and TSN 1050.
—
To get a view of the Sixers from someone who follows them as closely as anyone, I got in touch with Bryan Toporek, a quality editor at Bleacher Report and contributor to BBALLBREAKDOWN and FanSided. He also hosts The NBA Podcast at FanRag Sports. Somehow, he was able to squeeze some time in to answer some questions.
Vivek Jacob: Raptors fans NEED an Amir Johnson update. He’s started five games in the absence of Joel Embiid, averaging 6.8 points, 3.4 boards, 2.8 assists and 1.2 assists in about 19 minutes per. That’s obviously a significant drop-off from The Process, but what have you made of his 28 games thus far?
Bryan Toporek: Frustratingly, Sixers head coach Brett Brown seems to prefer Johnson as the primary backup center rather than bouncy third-year big man Richaun Holmes, who has fluctuated in and out of the rotation far more than expected through the first third of this season. Johnson may be somewhat unfairly maligned because he is contributing to Holmes’ displacement, but I can only hope he’s imparting some serious veteran wisdom to atone for his miserable minus-4.1 net rating.
VJ: The Sixers had that big win against Andre Drummond and the Detroit Pistons, but have now dropped seven of eight, including some bad home losses to the Suns, Lakers, and Kings. Is there anything you find lacking from a coaching standpoint or is this a case of a young team learning the hard way in the absence of their franchise player? Overall thoughts on how Brett Brown has managed a young team in clutch scenarios?
BT: Brett Brown often catches heat whenever the Sixers lose, but as Kyle Neubeck of Philly Voice detailed Wednesday, that criticism is often misplaced. Ben Falk of Cleaning the Glass has repeatedly hammered home this point, but the Sixers play like a 60-plus-win team with Joel Embiid on the court and like a bottom-feeding lottery squad when he’s sidelined. They allow opponents to score only 99.9 points per 100 possessions with him on the court compared to 107.8 per 100 with him off, per NBA.com, which is the largest differential of any Sixers player. Robert Covington also recently missed two games due to a back injury he suffered against the Cleveland Cavaliers, which didn’t help matters.
Would I like to see Holmes get more minutes in those Embiid-less games? Absolutely! But any young team lacking its primary rim protector is going to struggle, especially with a No. 1 overall pick (Markelle Fultz) still on the shelf. I wouldn’t pin too much blame on Brown for the Sixers’ recent slump.
VJ: Did Philadelphia lose more than just the Thunder game when they let Embiid play through those overtime sessions (49 minutes!)? He’s missed four of the last six and it will be six of eight based on the latest Woj report, which puts him on pace to play about 60 games this season. Is that in line with your expectations coming in? Is it even reasonable to have expectations considering his history?
BT: Before the season started, I said the Sixers would have a reasonable shot of making the playoffs if Embiid played in at least 50 games. I was hoping for 25 minutes per game across 50 games, so he’s currently on pace to surpass those expectations. I definitely didn’t expect him to be playing 30-plus minutes per game this quickly, nor did I ever expect him to surpass the 45-minute mark. (Was that a good idea when he was already dealing with a balky back? Probably not.)
I don’t think playing him through triple-overtime necessarily exacerbated the back issue, though, as he was already visibly laboring early in that game. It seems like there’s a delicate balancing act going on between Embiid and the Sixers’ medical staff where they’re willing to trust him more in pushing through minor issues this year, but they’re still keeping his long-term best interests in mind by sitting him out of back-to-backs and giving him nights off for “load management.”
VJ: Ben Simmons is the Rookie of the Year in waiting. To be as commanding on the offensive end as he has been without being a threat to shoot outside the paint is thoroughly impressive. We know about the size factor and are seeing the vision along with natural basketball instincts. What’s something about him someone who isn’t watching him every game might not have caught yet and should look for in this game?
BT: Simmons’ defensive aptitude is what has caught me by surprise so far this season. Back at LSU, he gained the reputation of being disinterested at times on that end of the court, but he now has nearly 6.2 million reasons to give a damn on defense. Simmons is leading all rookies in steals by a healthy margin (2.1 per game), but he’s also up there with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Draymond Green in terms of deflections per game, according to NBA.com. Considering how lethal he is in transition, his ability to generate cough-ups or disrupt an opponent’s offensive flow makes him a one-man fast break at times.
VJ: There’s plenty to read and watch about Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, and we’re still waiting on Markelle Fultz. Robert Covington has had an outstanding year while Dario Saric has been solid. Who among the Sixers bench entices you the most going forward? Perhaps even an X-factor going into this game.
BT: I’ve talked enough about Holmes already, so let’s go to Sixers Twitter’s other favorite Process success story, TJ McConnell. The Arizona product doesn’t necessarily project as starting point guard material at any point in his NBA career, but he’s one hell of a backup. He ranks 13th among 93 qualified floor generals in ESPN.com’s defensive real plus-minus, as every token white guy descriptor such as “scrappy” or “feisty” legitimately applies to him. If Kyle Lowry heats up against the Sixers, don’t be surprised when Brown calls upon McConnell to take that defensive assignment.
—
Raptors updates
No word on C.J. Miles as of yet, while all else should be status quo from Wednesday night. The matchups could be intriguing here, with Anunoby possibly picking up the Ben Simmons assignment easily the most fascinating one. The starting lineup has been in a terrific rhythm of late, so they should find a way to maximize their frontcourt advantage.
PG: Kyle Lowry, Delon Wright, Fred VanVleet
SG: DeMar DeRozan, Norman Powell
SF: OG Anunoby, Malcolm Miller
PF: Serge Ibaka, Pascal Siakam
C: Jonas Valanciunas, Jakob Poeltl
OUT: C.J. Miles, Lucas Nogueira
905: Bruno Caboclo, Alfonzo McKinnie
76ers updates
The Sixers last three losses have come in triple-overtime against the Oklahoma City, in Chicago against a resurgent Bulls team, and at home against the Kings because they had no answer for Zach Randolph and Buddy Hield. Robert Covington has shot just 7-for-32 from downtown since returning from a back bruise, and as one of the more streaky players in the league, the Raptors will be hoping he remains in a slump for a couple more games.
The latest on Markelle Fultz is that he will be reevaluated at some point after Christmas, and Philadelphia are hopeful he can return in early January. Justin Anderson is much closer to making his return, and should be available next week.
PG: Ben Simmons, T.J. McConnell
SG: Timothe Luwawu-Cabarot, Jerryd Bayless
SF: Robert Covington, James Michael McAdoo
PF: Dario Saric
C: Amir Johnson, Richaun Holmes
OUT: Markelle Fultz, Justin Anderson, Furkan Korkmaz, J.J. Redick
TBD: Joel Embiid, Trevor Booker
87ers: Jacob Pullen
The line
The Raptors are currently 3.5-point favorites, and the SEGABABA factor surely plays a part. The over-under is set at 218.
