The Philadelphia 76ers had a rough Tuesday night against (arguably) the best team in the East, in the Toronto Raptors.
Putting it in a simple way, the Philadelphia 76ers just didn’t play well whatsoever. Apart from a small fourth quarter comeback, the team couldn’t execute on either side of the ball.
Toronto’s defense (led by Kawhi Leonard), caused the Sixers to turn the ball over a massive 23 times. Apart from Joel Embiid, no player got into a steady offensive rhythm for the Sixers.
Kawhi Leonard was absolutely massive for the Raptors, and the MVP hype around him definitely showed tonight. Leonard completely locked Ben Simmons up, which stalled the offense for the majority of the night.
The Toronto Raptors are one of the deepest teams in the entire league, and it showed against the Sixers bench. When time came for substitutes, Toronto took over the game as Philadelphia’s reserves simply aren’t up to par.
Let’s take a dive into some player grades:
Obviously, the Sixers have many issues that they need to solve: Teams are sagging off Ben Simmons more than ever, Markelle Fultz and Ben Simmons can’t play efficiently together, and there is still an issue with bench depth.
A loss to a great team in Toronto this early shouldn’t cause panic. What matters right now, is how the team will respond to tonight’s loss. The Philadelphia 76ers will look to bounce back on Thursday night, to take on the LA Clippers at home.