Short-handed 76ers fail to top Raptors
Ibaka leads way with 24 points as Toronto improves to 47-30
Game No. 77 in the Toronto Raptors season featured two teams at very different stages in their development.
The Raptors are five games away from what they expect will be a long playoff run.
The Philadelphia 76ers are lottery- bound again. Worse, the pieces they’ve accumulated that will eventually get them out this vicious lottery circle are either legitimately injured or banged up sufficiently that they can’t play.
But what on paper shaped up as a classic mismatch didn’t exactly play out that way.
The Sixers ended up losing 113-105, but no one can deny the sweat equity they put into this one. That and the rather bizarre decision by Raptors’ shooting guard DeMar DeRozan not to shoot the ball for the better part of two-and-a-half quarters.
What all the Sixers’ hard work couldn’t overcome was the inexperience that led to 21 turnovers leading directly to 29 points and their 49th loss of the season to go along with 28 wins. The Raptors improved to 47-30.
Serge Ibaka led Toronto with 24 points taking a DeRozan- like 17 shots. DeRozan attempted only 11 shots through the three quarters and still ended up with 17 points. He also had a season- high- tying nine assists despite sitting out the entire fourth quarter.
It was the Raptors eighth win in the past nine games and at worst kept them tied with the Washington Wizards for third in the East standings with the Wizards scheduled to play Golden State on Sunday night.
Philadelphia came into Toronto without No. 1 overall pick in last year’s draft Ben Simmons, as well as previous first- rounders Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okakfor. Throw in Robert Covington and Jerryd Bayless along with Sergio Rodriguez and you have a team playing at an extreme disadvantage.
What the Sixers lacked in name credibility they more than made up for with a grind-it-out work ethic. The likes of Timothe Luwawu- Cabarrot and recent D-League callup Alex Poythress gave the Sixers 19 and nine points respectively from two guys who normally wouldn’t get anywhere near the 19 shot attempts they had between them.
The Raps now head out on the road for games in Indiana and Detroit before returning home for their final regular season game Friday against Miami.