Tonight’s game had a perfect start. Yes, the Raptors hit their shots (Quickley hit 3 quick triples) and Scottie Barnes battled well against Joel Embiid (Ochai Agbaji started in place of the injured Jakob Poeltl), but I mean more so that the 76ers were clad in their Iverson era black jerseys and with the matching court to boot. Great stuff. The 76ers also managed to keep pace and even outscore the Raptors 17-15 in the opening surge of play. Trendon Watford was active early, scoring 7 points and nabbing two ORBS. Made good on the lack of attention being paid to him defensively.
Philly did a fairly good job of getting Tyrese Maxey the ball — as they should, he’s the NBA’s leading scorer — which kept their offense humming, but the Raptors had a string of 2 Shead threes followed by 1 from Barrett, and it allowed them to charge ahead. While subbing Sandro Mamukelashvili in meant Maxey had some bigger feet to attack, it also meant the Raptors were able to ping the ball around the floor more effectively on offense. 10 of their first 11 buckets were assisted. Collin Murray-Boyles also joined the aforementioned bench players off the pine, first in the game. A change in starting lineup meant that we were seeing a change in the rotation overall – obviously.
Back to Murray-Boyles – he was fantastic in his opening minutes. Provided some punch on defense, plucked Oubre Jr. in the open court while providing ball pressure, rolled to the bucket, and moved the ball on when he was meant to. Plugging in, and making sense of it. However, he did unfortunately go 1/4 from the line. We also got a fading corner triple from Gradey Dick off on of the Raptors pet BLOB plays – that they run for Ingram, Quickley, and Dick. The bench provided heaps, and sent them up by 10 at quarter’s end. Especially important stuff on the second night of a back to back.
A wide open corner triple from Ja’Kobe Walter brought about a crazy stat. It meant the Raptors had started 10-12 from downtown, and even crazier yet, maybe, they were up 27-0 in bench points against the 76ers. A Nick Nurse team not getting much scoring from its bench? Wow!
It’s weird to watch this version of Embiid. He’s so limited physically from where he’s been in the past. His game is really quiet in terms of impact now. Of course, he’s still big as hell, and talented as hell, and was still scoring the ball. But, it’s different now. Strange. Anyway, his scoring helped bring the 76ers back from their double-digit deficit into a much more manageable 2 points, and he did it fairly quickly. Part of a 15-3 run. He was a +11 in his 12 first half minutes.
There was a GREAT help-side rotation and block from Barnes that helped the Raptors stay in the lead. The 76ers would eventually get their bucket and tie the game though. One foul turn deserves another, and the Raptors had a destitute shooting stretch. They actually went scoreless over 5 full minutes, and a baby fader from Oubre Jr. stole the lead out from under them. A slow, cumbersome pace consumed the game. Halfcourt vs. halfcourt and the Raptors were having a lot of trouble.
Maxey & Embiid had a lock on everything in the second quarter, leading the 76ers to a 35-20 differential and seizing back control of the game. Sloppy work from the Raptors. Their lack of paint touches caught up with their offense, and 32-6 disparity in points in the paint was looking them squarely in the face. As was a 5-point deficit.
Barnes was excellent to start the second half. The 76ers were doing a great job of keeping the Raptors out of the paint, as we already know, but with Embiid roaming around that area it was left to Barnes to shoot over the top and make them pay. And he did, hitting his first two jumpers of the half for 5 points. He was getting stops on the defensive end — pinning Embiid off the glass twice — and playmaking on top of all of it. A superb stretch from him is what brought the game back even at 78. A mammoth accomplishment during the Embiid minutes – of which there would only by 20-24 on the night.
In what I was hoping wasn’t an extension of the Raptors blowing up, Ingram left the court in frustration — shortly after Barnes left the court with a troublesome back — and exploded a water bottle after throwing it. He caused a delay of game prior to that and delayed things further, the second on the Raptors, and gave the 76ers a free throw. He was also getting bodied up by Watford on both ends of the court. The 76ers snapped off a 9-0 run to take their largest lead of the game. They did this with Embiid off the court as well. Terrible stretch.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde… something about that. The Raptors, with a Barnes layup, two Quickley triples, and an and-1 on the roll for Mamu, snapped off an 8-0 run with Embiid in the game. They closed the gap to 4 before the final quarter.
The Raptors underwent another shot making deficit compared to the 76ers during the opening run of the fourth and fell back a bit. They couldn’t get anything from their off-ball bench guards (Walter, Dick, Agbaji) and it was hurting them greatly. Dick, in particular, was the smallest of degrees away from a truly great stretch, but if you miss, you miss.
Also let me say, Ingram scored the ball at an okay clip in this game, but his playmaking decisions were sub par and oh my days did he have a shocker on defense. Just completely out to lunch on so many possessions.
The Raptors were having trouble combining good stretches in all aspects of the game. When they’d get stops, they’d have trouble closing out the defensive glass. When they’d create their own extra possessions, they’d have trouble hitting their shots. When they’d hit, they’d allow something on the other end. Perpetually behind the 76ers stiff arm, but maybe more accurately, behind their own. They were stuck 3 with 3 minutes to go and Embiid checking in. Showtime.
6-0 run for the 76ers. Woof. Embiid was an immediate problem the Raptors had trouble accounting for, and they weren’t able to identify how to attack him defensively. Barnes stuck his big paw in the air to steal a pass to the interior, the ball funneled forward and Ingram had a layup attempt become a sideline out of bounds. Then Quickley didn’t release it in time for the 5 second count. A couple plays later, Barnes fouled out while trying to hedge Edgecombe on the perimeter, and Edgecombe clipped his shoe before falling over. Barrett allowed Watford, who had a raucous triple-double in this one, to grab a missed free throw over his head.
Tough scene. The Raptors felt so close to a win, on maybe 6 different occasions tonight, but every time the game swung their way, they came up short.
Have a blessed day.
