By: Kylan Watson

The Philadelphia 76ers hosted the Toronto Raptors in their last home game of 2023 before starting a five-game road trip for the next few days. These two rivals traded blows throughout each quarter and it took a Tobias Harris offensive explosion to help Philly pull away and slam the Raptors 121-111.

Toronto started the game off fast they forced the Sixers into some bad turnovers which led to easy lay-ups and dunks. Before the Sixers could even settle into this game they were down by seven-points and the Raptors were threatening to blow them off their home-floor.  Joel Embiid turned his ankle during the first quarter which led to him seriously being hampered throughout this contest. However, when Philly needed it most Tobias Harris accessed his 2022-23 self and came out firing from the parking lot. He hit five/nine three-pointers and scored 33-points (season-high), Harris got whatever he wanted from the floor and there was nothing Toronto could do about it. When they ran him off the three-point line he would attack the basket and get a tough shot at the rim. An aggressive Harris is a great thing for Philly, when he gets out of his own head and let’s the game comes to him it adds another dimension to the Sixers offensive capabilities. The Sixers needed him tonight and he answered the call helping them overcome a 15-point deficit to retake the lead and they never looked back. When Harris plays like he did tonight most teams cannot compete with the Sixers.

Despite Harris’ offensive explosion the Raptors were able to cut into the Sixers lead thanks to the duo of Pascal Siakam (31-points) and Jakob Poeltl (19-points)  who combined for 50 of Toronto’s 111-points. Both players took full advantage of clearly hampered Joel Embiid and attacked Philly’s defense and got their defenders in foul trouble. Their inside attack opened up some rebounding opportunities and multiple looks at shots which found the bottom of the basket. Before the Sixers knew what hit them their lead was cut down to three-points and the Raptors were surging and then the Sixers put Tobias Harris on Siakam and that slowed him down enough to help the Sixers win this game.

Joel Embiid finally woke up and played through the pain as he scored 16 of his 31-points in the third quarter to help the Sixers get some more room in this game. This was a more pedestrian performance from Embiid but he did enough to help his team win and will now have three days to rest that ankle. Tyrese Maxey (33-points) and Tobias Harris closed this game out picking up the reigning MVP and helping the Sixers to another victory over a game opponent. The trio became the second trio of  Sixers teammates  to each score 30-plus-points since January 5^th, 1961 when Dick Burnet, Hal Greer, and Dolph Schayes did it.

For the last few games a third scorer has been needed to help Embiid and Maxey and tonight Harris answered the challenge in this contest. If he can take this game and use it to get more positive scoring momentum that will be great for the Sixers as they prepare for a Christmas Day matchup with the Miami Heat who always play Philly tough. If they can get an aggressive Harris to show-up and continue to use ball movement to create high-percentage shots they should be in good shape against the Heat. Additionally, they will need to play stronger perimeter defense like they did tonight to force the Heat’s shooters into well contested shots if they let them get comfortable that will spell trouble for Philly.  If they can do these things they can get their 21^st victory of the season.