 | 76ers | 114 | Final Box Score | 109 | Raptors |  |
 A | P. Siakam42 MIN, 28 PTS, 6 REB, 8 AST, 1 STL, 11-21 FG, 0-4 3FG, 6-6 FT, 1 BLK, 3 TO, +2 +/- Great, great return. It was a good start, as he drilled jumpers to save stagnant offensive possessions because everyone deferred to him. Really nice passing, too, when the defensive threw bodies at him. His defense was as sharp as it’s been all season, quarterbacking everyone while in the zone and making great individual stops as well. Extremely clutch to close the game, tossing in a falling-down floater over Embiid. | ||||||||
 A+ | C. Boucher38 MIN, 28 PTS, 19 REB, 0 AST, 1 STL, 10-14 FG, 5-7 3FG, 3-4 FT, 2 BLK, 0 TO, -6 +/- He survived against Joel Embiid on the defensive end early, which is an impressive feat. Rebounded very well on both ends, and even tossed in a whack of triples in the third. The defense was less reliable against Embiid for a stretch in the third, but that’s completely to be expected. Then he went berserk again in the fourth, drilling shots and protecting the rim, hustling for loose balls. There’s a sweet spot for Boucher. He seems to play best when he knows where his minutes are coming from, but when he has players above him in the offensive hierarchy who can create for him. This was almost certainly his best game of the season. | ||||||||
 B | Y. Watanabe31 MIN, 10 PTS, 4 REB, 2 AST, 0 STL, 4-6 FG, 2-3 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, -19 +/- Airballed his first shot by a mile before making his next, a triple from the other corner. He’s got that bounceback skill. He wasn’t as involved as he was last game, but he still chipped in where he could, throwing dimes in transition, and cutting opportunistically. Swatted Embiid from the weakside like a champ. | ||||||||
 D+ | M. Flynn32 MIN, 6 PTS, 4 REB, 3 AST, 0 STL, 2-12 FG, 2-8 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, +2 +/- Fumbly handle early. Made some nifty passes, but they didn’t turn into anything. His contributions turned into points in the second half, as he started making jumpers. He also hustled well chasing loose balls. But then he shot himself out of a good game in the fourth. DJ Wilson closed over him. | ||||||||
 C+ | G. Trent Jr.41 MIN, 19 PTS, 1 REB, 7 AST, 2 STL, 6-24 FG, 4-13 3FG, 3-5 FT, 0 BLK, 3 TO, -10 +/- Inefficient, but had some solid stretches. Probably the most out of rhythm of the returners to start the game. His legs weren’t in his shots, and he fell into some bad habits on the defensive end. By the end of the second half, he started to look more like himself, jumping into double teams to force turnovers, and putting his jumpers in. He even handled the ball pretty well to close the game, creating advantages for himself and others, and converting inside the arc with floaters. More or less threw a chance at a tie away by being Danny-Green level lackadaisical with seven seconds left in the game. | ||||||||
 A+ | D.J. Wilson13 MIN, 9 PTS, 6 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 2-3 FG, 0-1 3FG, 5-6 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, +12 +/- Weirdly sat out the first half in protocols and returned to play the second. Hm. Looked like he did last game: solid. In the right place defensively, and didn’t play outside of himself on the offensive end. Of all the Replacements, he could very well stay with the team long term. | ||||||||
 Inc | D. Oturu6 MIN, 0 PTS, 2 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 0-0 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 2 BLK, 0 TO, -7 +/- Had a great cut in his first stint but bobbled the pass from Flynn. Was given a block in the box score that most certainly was Yuta’s. | ||||||||
 B+ | S. Mykhailiuk29 MIN, 9 PTS, 0 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 3-6 FG, 2-4 3FG, 1-1 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, +1 +/- A tale of two halves. Just wasn’t doing much in the first — barely visible. Once in the second quarter tried to go it alone and got stripped behind the arc. Then he made an and-1 triple in the third during a run. On the next possession he drove, threw a nice pass, relocated, and splashed the corner triple. Needed more of that! | ||||||||
 Inc | T. Waters7 MIN, 0 PTS, 1 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 0-1 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 0 +/- Was still a little jittery even though he was asked to do less, throwing his passes off target. | ||||||||
 B | Nick Nurse How much control does a coach have over a game like this? The rotation is more or less out of his hands, especially when he played his key guys pretty much the whole game. Is Boucher going berserk part of his gameplan? Ultimately, the team was emotionally ready to compete with a few reinforcements, and that wasn’t the case against Cleveland. So a good coaching game, insofar as we can judge any of it. He did waste a timeout on a hopeless challenge (in defense of Boucher, so you can say it was earned!), and that lack of timeout ended up costing the Raptors a chance to tie. C’est la vie. | ||||||||
Things We Saw
- The rust showed early, as all of Flynn, Trent, and Siakam showed some fumbly handles early. That’s fine! They all looked like they were labouring up and down the court. It takes time to get conditioning back, and it’s better to have those three, winded, than it is to see the Raptors get obliterated again like they did against the Cavs.
- Embiid was a problem. Obviously. He pulled the Sixers into the lead in the third, and he buried the Raptors late after they closed the gap.
- It’s good to see Siakam and the rest of the crew that came out of protocols tonight show no rust beyond conditioning. It’s obviously impossible to project the same for everyone, or even a continuation of the same for these three, but if it holds, the Raptors are well set up to make a run in the next game or two when the reinforcements arrive.
