In its final home game of the year, the Philadelphia 76ers hosted a short-handed Toronto Raptors squad that had been successful without Kawhi Leonard in the past.
Yes, the Raptors were without Sixer-killer Jonas Valunciunas and Serge Ibaka due to injury and Kawhi Leonard because of ‘load management’. For some reason Toronto felt they needed Leonard to beat Cleveland on Friday and he has not played both ends of back-to-back games so far.
The Raptors had been just fine without him. Going into Saturday, Toronto was 7-1 when Leonard was out of the lineup, including wins over the Golden State Warriors and both the Los Angeles Clippers and Lakers.
Plus, the Raptors had reinforcements. Starters Kyle Lowry and Danny Green played on Saturday after sitting out the last few games with injuries. Coach Nick Nurse admitted before the game he was ‘surprised’ Lowry was available. Of course, being a Philly native, Lowry undoubtedly wanted to play in his hometown.
The Philadelphia 76ers were not at full-strength either, as Wilson Chandler was out with a quad contusion. Mike Muscala started in his place and was quickly benched with foul trouble, which gave Jonah Bolden a chance for some rare first-quarter minutes. He responded with three blocks and three rebounds (and an ugly three-point try) in his first few minutes of action.
After trailing by a point after the first quarter, the 76ers took care of business and rolled to a 126-101 victory over the Raptors. Toronto falls to 25-10 on the season, with the Sixers now 2.5 games behind them in the Atlantic Division standings at 22-12.
The Sixers certainly got no favors from the referees. Jimmy Butler, Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid all got hit with technicals, as it seemed any time a Toronto player flopped or pretended to draw contact the whistle blew.
The Raptors were scrappy and only trailed by six late in the third period before J.J. Redick (22 points, 4-5 from three-point line) and Furkan Korkmaz each hit a three-pointer in the final minute of the quarter. Korkmaz and Redick opened the fourth with each scoring a basket to build the Sixers lead to 95-79 and they were never really challenged after that.
The first half was good for anyone playing who was born in Cameroon. Embiid had 23 points while the Raptors’ Pascal Siakam scored 20 points as the 76ers held a 65-58 lead at halftime.
Before the game, general manager Elton Brand held a press conference.
He said that Markelle Fultz and Zhaire Smith will both be with the team in Boston on Christmas Day for the nationally-televised game, but will not play.
He said they expect Smith at some point to join the team this season. He would give no date on Fultz’s return and said he was doing strictly physical therapy at this point.
The 76ers will not have a home game again until Jan. 5.