The Philadelphia 76ers have gotten a few wins so far, but they have yet to get a “real win” over a high-caliber team. They have a chance for that on Saturday.
Toronto Raptors (22-15) @ Philadelphia 76ers (4-34), Wells Fargo Center, 7:30 PM Saturday
The Philadelphia 76ers have gotten new life from their acquisition of point guard Ish Smith, but they have yet to win a game over a truly impressive, and perhaps daunting opponent. Their Saturday night matchup against the Toronto Raptors may be the perfect opportunity for that, though.
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The Sixers are coming off of a few good wins, but ultimately, in their most recent game, were embarrassed and their worst trait–turnovers–came out in a loss to the Atlanta Hawks yet again. The Raptors have won two in a row going into their game against the Sixers.
The Sixers have played the Raptors twice this season, and have not faired well in either case. Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan have been the main culprits of causing trouble for the Sixers, as they have with most teams that they’ve played this season.
The Raptors are competing for a playoff spot, sitting at fifth in the newly competitive Eastern Conference, and looking like they will make the playoffs. This would be an impressive win for the Sixers to pull off. Unfortunately, it’s one that would also be very difficult.
The Raptors offensive rating is eighth in the NBA, but their 100 points per game is just 19th in the league. They do limit their opponents to 96.9 points per game, though, which is fourth best in the entire league.
Opponents to watch
DeMar DeRozan is averaging 22.6 points per game, and his partner in the backcourt, Kyle Lowry, is averaging 20.6 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Together, they account for 43.2 points, 10.7 assists, and 9.1 rebounds per game, which is huge. Those numbers are huge percentages of their overall team statistics, proving how much they mean to the team. Defensively, I don’t see any way that the Sixers are able to shut this duo down, as they are often overlooked, and may just be one of the backcourts in the entire NBA.
As far as shutting down Lowry is concerned, T.J. McConnell may be a good player to have assigned to him. McConnell plays some obnoxious on-ball defense–that is to say, he is on his man way too much, which can be a good thing–and that seems to impact Lowry’s shots. With defenders within 2-4 feet of Lowry, he shoots his worst, at 37.4 percent. He also takes his greatest number of shots with these constraints.
His passing is the more dangerous aspect, though. Over half of his passes go to either DeRozan or Luis Scola, so getting on those guys would seem to be smart, because off of passes from Lowry, they both shoot over 45 percent from the field.
DeRozan actually shoots better when he has a defender right on him. According to his NBA stat page, the further a defender is from him, the worse his shooting percentage becomes.
On top of that, the Raptors have a great big man in Jonas Valanciunas who is averaging nearly a double-double with 12.2 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. Jonas missed the second game against the Raptors, so it will be fun to see him and rookie center Jahlil Okafor go at it for the second time this season. Jahlil won the first one, scoring 26 points, and pulling in 7 rebounds. Jonas scored 11 points and pulled in 12 rebounds.
Final take
The Raptors have far too many pieces for the Sixers to overcome. The task of figuring out Kyle Lowry is enough in itself, and on top of that, the team has to figure out how to defend his nice setups to his teammates. It’s an impossible task for teams that should be up to it, and the Sixers don’t have the tools to defend everything that comes along with the Raptors.
The only thing I’m looking forward to is more Ish exposure, and possibly a good paint matchup between Jonas and Jahlil.
More 76ers: Sixers are BRAND New
Gametime stats
The Sixers are 0-6 in the last 6 games against the Raptors and have been out scored 540 to 670, on average losing by 22 points.
— greek mill 🇬🇷 (@georgeythegreek) January 9, 2016
The #Sixers have turned the ball over nearly 200 times more than the #Raptors, who they play tonight.
— Josh Wilson (@J_WilsonSports) January 9, 2016
Where to catch the game
- CSN Philadelphia has the broadcast.
- 97.5 The Fanatic has the call.
- Stream on the Live Extra application or with League Pass.
- Watch out of market with League Pass.