By: Kylan Watson

The Philadelphia 76ers returned to the Scotia Bank Arena for the second time this week trying to get their first victory of the season against the Toronto Raptors. The Sixers were able to bury Toronto 112-90, thanks to a 44-point (career-high) performance from Tyrese Maxey. They were able to get their second win of the young season.

Unlike Wednesday night Philly started the game hot. They were able to hit their first nine shots thanks to Tyrese Maxey. Who started the game hitting his first nine shots and that allowed Philly to get a comfortable lead. He scored 27 of his 44-points by halftime and hit nine/12 three-pointers. Maxey took full advantage of more offensive touches thanks to the absence of Joel Embiid who missed tonight’s game with a sore right knee. Maxey’s dominance unlocked the rest of the offense, he was able to find his teammates in their offensive sweet spots thanks to four assists. They made the Raptors pay for daring to leave them open. This was Philly’s best complete game of the season and if the ball moves as great as it did tonight. Philly can have one of the best offenses in the league.

On his 44-point performance, “We won. I’m just so happy we won,” said Maxey.

Toronto was able to weather the storm though. They fought back in the second half and cut Philly’s lead to six-points mid-way through the third quarter. Pascal Siakam led them he scored 26-points; this was one of the quietest scoring performances of his season so far. He only made nine/15 shots and defensively he had a hand in his face throughout this game. Philly put Matisse Thybulle on him, and he made things very difficult for Siakam. He did not get many clean shots in tonight’s contest. Philly may want to use Thybulle more this season, he only played five-minutes during this season so far. He helped Philly turn up their defensive energy with some timely steals and his length bothered Siakam. He is still working on his offensive game only scoring six-points tonight. However, tonight he made an argument that he should be played more. Even if it is only for defensive purposes, Thybulle single-handedly stifled the Siakam problem for Philly.

Philly will now prepare for a primetime matchup tomorrow night with the Chicago Bulls. This is another team that will test the Sixers perimeter defense. They will need to make sure they guard the perimeter if they want to keep the duo of DeMar DeRozan and Zach Lavine at bay and get their third win of the season. Tomorrow night might be another game where Thybulle may come in handy for Philly.