Raptors still have Sixers’ number
Leonard scores 36 in Toronto’s 113-102 win
TORONTO — The Philadelphia 76ers might be a different team. But it was a similar result for the Toronto Raptors.
Kawhi Leonard scored 36 points to lift the league-leading Raptors to a 113-102 victory over Jimmy Butler and the new-look Sixers on Wednesday night.
It was Toronto’s 13th straight win over Philadelphia at home.
Jonas Valanciunas scored a season-high 26 points, while Serge Ibaka had 18 for the Raptors (21-5).
Leonard connected on a seasonhigh 5-for-6 from three-point range.
Butler had 38 points to lead Philly (17-9), while JJ Redick added 25.
The Raptors roared past Philly 129-112 on Oct. 30 in Toronto, but less than two weeks later the Sixers upped the ante, acquiring Butler from Minnesota in a deal that drastically altered the Eastern Conference landscape.
“It’s very different,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said of his new-look team. “But the fact is we haven’t won up here. It’s a combination of them being very good, and us sort of growing our program.”
The Sixers led for most of the first half, in part because of Toronto’s horrible shooting and lackadaisical defensive play.
The Raptors finally found some energy in the third quarter and took a 78-77 lead into the fourth. A 9-0 run put the Raptors up by nine points over their Eastern Conference rival, and when Valanciunas took a short pass from C.J. Miles and threw down a huge dunk, it put the Raptors up by 11 with 7:53 to play.
Leonard put an exclamation mark on Toronto’s late-game surge when he grabbed a rebound and sprinted coast to coast to throw down a dunk. The emphatic play gave the Raptors a 15-point lead.
Butler scored nine straight points for the Sixers, but it barely made a dent in the Raptors’ lead down the stretch.