Leonard continues to shine for Raptors

Joel Embiid had the ball with a couple of minutes to play and Philadelphia on a roll when Kawhi Leonard decided to help himself to the ball. The steal — one of Leonard’s four on the night — turned into a running layup by Pascal Siakam and the Sixers never threatened again.

On a night Leonard scored 31 points, breaking a Raptors record by starting his Toronto career with six straight 20-plus point games, it was as much his defence that lifted Toronto to a 129-112 victory over Philadelphia on Tuesday.

“He can guard the ball, he can guard people coming off pin-downs, he can guard guys on the post,” coach Nick Nurse said of Leonard, who broke Rudy Gay’s record. “But mostly, I think it’s just his natural instinct for getting his hands on stuff. The ball’s popping around and, boom, he comes out of there with it any variety of ways. Post feeds, cross-court passes, pocket passes.”

Jonas Valanciunas had 23 points off the bench, while Kyle Lowry had 20 points and 12 assists for the Raptors (7-1), who remain undefeated at home. Serge Ibaka chipped in with 20 points, while Pascal Siakam had 15 and a career-high 15 rebounds, and Danny Green finished with 10.

Joel Embiid led the Sixers (4-4) with 31 points.

Toronto and Philly were popular pre-season picks to contend in the Eastern Conference. But the Raptors, motivated by Monday night’s loss at Milwaukee — their first of the season — and happy to have Leonard back in the lineup after he missed that game, dominated for most of the night.

Their activity on the defensive end smothered the Sixers.

“I think we had 18 deflections in the first half, which is a big, big number. I think we turned them over 14 times in the first half which is another big number,” Nurse said. “It’s a little bit the way Kyle does it. When Kawhi’s up and guarding and handsy and getting his hands on balls, it kind of spreads to the other guys. They feed off that a little bit.”

The Raptors led by 17 midway through the second quarter, and were up 105-86 to start the fourth.

A basket by Embiid pulled Philly to within nine points with 6:38 to play. But on the Sixers’ next possession, Lowry swatted the ball away from Embiid, and Green connected on a three-pointer and the Raptors were back up by 12.

Embiid drained a three with 3:30 to play that pulled the Sixers to within six points. But a Leonard threepointer 90 seconds later capped a 7-0 run.