DeRozan scores career-best 45 points, leads Raptors to fifth straight victory
PHILADELPHIA — DeMar DeRozan scored a career-high 45 points and the Toronto Raptors overcame a 22point deficit to beat the Joel Embiidless Philadelphia 76ers, 114-109, in National Basketball Association action Thursday night.
DeRozan also set a career high with six three-pointers. His jumper with 4:13 left put the Raptors ahead to stay after they trailed 76-54 early in the third quarter.
He hit two free throws with 53 seconds left after Philadelphia’s Robert Covington missed a goahead threepoint attempt, and then two more with 6.4 seconds left put it away.
Kyle Lowry added 23 points to help the Raptors win their fifth straight and 11th in 12 games.
Ben Simmons scored 20 points and had seven of the Sixers’ 23 turnovers in their fourth straight loss. Covington added 19 points and Dario Saric had 18 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.
Philadelphia, which blew a 16point lead Tuesday in a loss to Sacramento, fell to 1-7 without Embiid.
It was another day of uncertainty and false hope for the Sixers regarding their oft injured franchise centre, who went from questionable to probable to out in eight hours.
Embiid missed two games with back tightness after logging a career-high 49 minutes in a tripleovertime loss to Oklahoma City last Friday. But the big man participated in shootaround and coach Brett Brown said less than two hours before tipoff that Embiid was “probable” and would play barring a setback in warm-ups. Embiid didn’t show any discomfort during pregame drills, but was ruled out about 30 minutes before tipoff.
The Sixers were also without starting shooting guard JJ Redick (right hamstring), but used Covington’s five-of-seven shooting from three-point range to lead by 22.