The shorthanded Toronto Raptors once again were tasked with an uphill battle, as they had to face off against the Philadelphia 76ers. Toronto gave Philadelphia a good run for their money in the 135-120 loss. Philadelphia bombarded Toronto with an onslaught from the three point line and every time it felt like Toronto was climbing back into the game, Philly would cash a triple. There were plenty of good performances from Toronto’s side and they really had some good chances to win this game. Ultimately they fell short but at this point in the season it’s about wins and lessons and not wins and losses.
Jordan Nwora had a good game last night, he has taken some of the creation burden that has been placed upon this team and run with it. Nwora scored 19 points last night and although it wasn’t the most efficient game the process is what was intriguing. Nwora’s driving and rim pressure really shined, his handle also looked good as well, and he also had some tough finishes. All but one of his field goals came in the paint.
Kelly Olynyk also had a strong game. Olynyk finished with 18 points and 11 assists and shot 87.5 percent from the field. As has been the case for many games now, Olynyk is a huge part of running the offense and that showed last night. He fired passes from all over the court, found open three point shooters, hit guys in transition, and looked good doing it. Olynyk also dominated inside as a scorer during his minutes hitting contested layup after contested layup.
Gary Trent Jr. was huge in this game as well. His shotmaking gave Toronto a good boost to their offense and his spacing makes so many things possible. Trent was always in the right spot and hit many timely shots as well. He finished with 23 points last night and Toronto needed all of them.
Toronto’s defense also had stretches where they were shutting down Philadelphia which empowered them to cut the lead down to single digits in the fourth quarter and really give them a scare. Philadelphia made 24 three pointers and that was a big part of why they won. For a lot of these threes Toronto rotated poorly which led to players like Nic Batum being able to get up wide open threes. Cameron Payne hit six threes, Kelly Oubre Jr. hit six threes, and Batum hit five threes of his own.
With this loss Toronto’s losing streak extends to 13 but that shouldn’t be the focus. Winning would be great but the focus now should be trying to develop the young players like Gradey Dick, and Darko Rajakovic trying to make sure his ideal scheme and system is developed on both ends of the floor.
