DeRozan’s career night leads 2nd-largest comeback in Raptors history

DeMar DeRozan is a treasure.

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Raptors 114, 76ers 109 | Box Score | Quick Reaction | Reaction Podcast

There’s something to be said for employing stars, believing in your ability to find an extra gear even when you’re playing poorly, and taking a game that should have belonged to you even after you’ve given it away. Really, there’s just something to be said for DeMar DeRozan.

This one was even a little odd before the game even started. Already down No. 1 pick Markelle Fultz and their best floor-spacer, sharp-shooter J.J. Redick, the 76ers went through the full gamut of emotions as they pertain to Joel Embiid. A bonafide star in his second partial season after two years lost to injury, Embiid was initially expected to sit here, then had his status upgraded from doubtful to questionable, then to probable, all before ultimately sitting. Embiid is phenomenal, and not only does his loss impact the team in obvious terms, it seems like this kind of constant uncertainty – and the heavy toll the eventual DNPs may take – would take a toll on the rest of the team, something their 1-7 record without him backs up.

The actual game didn’t exactly start as most would expect, either, with DeRozan hitting triples in triplicate, one of them a four-point play. DeRozan isn’t entirely a non-shooter based on his mid-range proclivity and the look of his stroke of late, but when a sub-30-percent shooter hits three threes out of the gate, it might not be your night (and if it is, it’ll be a weird one). Ben Simmons found the mark on a mid-range jumper early, too, and as pretty much anyone would have predicted, Jerryd Bayless got out to a hot start to keep things tight early. Kyle Lowry then joined the game-wide shooting ac  and OG Anunoby picked up his second steal guarding Simmons, taking it the other way for a dunk and suggesting a timeout to Brett Brown.

The Raptors didn’t seem particularly interested in defense in the first, likely a combination of sizing up a depleted Sixers roster and the back-to-back scenario. Were it not for Serge Ibaka missing a couple of quality looks he made a night earlier and Lowry starting 1-of-5 from outside, Toronto may have pulled away in the middle of the quarter. That’s a little painful in retrospect. As it was, it simply felt like a quarter that portended a pull-away later if they put their foot on the gas and shots began dropping. If if was a fifth, and all. The bench couldn’t get more going, as has been the case a bit too often of late, and Philly went on a 7-0 run following DeRozan’s fourth three to grab a one-point lead at the end of the quarter despite DeRozan’s 15.

Dwane Casey had to go away from the all-bench unit pretty quickly in the second, as Philly extended their lead thanks to serious turnover problems on the part of the Raptors. It took over three minutes and the return of Lowry (in a three-point-guard look) for Toronto to hit a field goal in the quarter, and even once the entire starting contingent was back in, sloppiness and inconsistent defensive focus precluded any sort of momentum for the visitors. It was a pretty disappointing quarter all told, with Simmons getting what he wanted and the defense not doing enough (127.6 D-Rating in the half) to pick up for a  33-percent shooting quarter on the other end where the Raptors lost that whole ball-movement plot.

It made for a fairly inexcusable 65-52 halftime deficit. It didn’t get better to start the third, with the Raptors missing a couple of easy looks, failing to move off the ball on other possessions, and committing some defensive miscues that made it seem like this just wasn’t going to be their night. Casey tried to find a spark with subs less than three minutes into the half. That helped coax Philadelphia into a couple of turnovers, only for the Raptors to trade those right back (they had 17 for the game less than midway through the third quarter and 21 on the night, good for 32 76ers points). Philly’s lead grew to 22 as a result, and things looked dire.

The Raptors are good, though, and the 76ers were only going to be able to dominate so long before something clicked or variance set in. Fueled by some great energy from Delon Wright and Pascal Siakam (shocking, right?), Toronto responded to their largest hole with a 14-0 run. Everyone’s energy picked up, especially on defense, but really, Wright deserves credit as the catalyst. He drew a tough charge on Trevor Booker, scored six points, dished two assists, grabbed an offensive rebound, and had a steal all in that four-minute stretch, and as soon as Philly scored, he drilled a three and set up DeRozan for his fifth to help chain the 14-0 run to a 22-2 run.

Just like that, it was a game again, and back-to-back threes from DeRozan and Wright erased the remainder of the deficit, tying the game at 84 late in the quarter. To that point, DeRozan had 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting and a career-high six threes, and he’d finish with a new career-high of 45 points (on 13-of-21). It only fit, then, that he closed the quarter with a tough floater to keep them within two entering the fourth.

Casey rolled the dice with the all-bench group again, and while shots weren’t dropping, Siakam and Jakob Poeltl did nice work on the offensive glass to keep things close. Lowry got the call again after three minutes to make sure the offense could produce points, and DeRozan and Ibaka followed quickly after that. DeRozan scored on his own rebound, Lowry drilled a jab-step three, and Ibaka hit a jumper, though they began growing frustrated with the whistle (particularly on Norman Powell and – you guessed it – Poeltl) at the other end. (The degree to which both sides got away with voicing their displeasure with the officials was a little surprising here.)

They looked to close small from there, with Wright in place of Valanciunas with the other four starters. Lowry getting fouled on a 3-point attempt gave Toronto their first lead since the first quarter, and DeRozan continued working toward that new career high. That earlier tough whistle turned Toronto’s way a bit, too, as Wright drew a borderline offensive foul on Simmons and Robert Covington was called for a reach-in foul on DeRozan that had Covington, Brett Brown, and the Philly crowd quite upset.

Things got tense in the final minute after. The 76ers missed a golden opportunity to take the lead back after an offensive rebound following a missed Simmons free throw, and they’d get another chance after Anunoby stopped Simmons, only for Lowry to come up with the ball from Richaun Holmes. The Raptors nearly gave them one more opportunity after that, too, when an inbound pass got tipped but landed in DeRozan’s hands, letting him get points 44 and 45, sealing the victory.

And so went the second-largest comeback in Raptors history, a ridiculous 22-point climb that shouldn’t have been necessary and still felt pretty good once it got going. Ideally, the Raptors would have come out stronger, their clean early looks would have dropped, and they would have won in a way more reflective of how they’ve dominated lately. On the second night of a road back-to-back, in the midst of an 11-1 stretch where lethargy hasn’t set in often against a weak stretch of schedule, stealing a win is fine. Plus, there’s a huge psychological factor at play where once the game gets out of hand, it’s almost found money, playing with five-percent odds instead of 55-percent. That’s not predictive or meaningful for their outlook, but it certainly shapes how games are consumed for a lot of people.

To be clear, it’s not as if the quality of competition was really ratcheted up here, despite any buzz the Sixers have generated. They entered play at 14-16, getting outscored by 6.9 points per-100 possessions without Embiid, which would rank 28th in the NBA. The Raptors can only play the teams put in front of them, and they continue to mostly get it done (17-1 against sub-.500 teams), gaining another game here on a night when Boston got cooked by Beas. Things may or may not get tougher Saturday back at home, where Redick will be doubtful and Embiid’s status apparently won’t matter until tip-off, even if it’s changed 30 times. They shouldn’t need 45 more from DeRozan to win that one.

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