By: Kylan Watson

After falling to the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday afternoon, the Philadelphia 76ers faced the Toronto Raptors in their next to last game before the All-Star break. Both teams traded blows throughout this game, but the Sixers late game execution cost them a winnable game against Toronto. The Raptors were able to hit their shots and beat Philly 106-103.

The Sixers could not find their offensive rhythm to start this contest once again, they missed their shots, and Toronto took full advantage of the power outage. Scottie Barnes (33 points) and Immanuel Quickley (23 points) combined for 56 of Toronto’s 106 points. Philly had no answers for either one of them and they got whatever they wanted from the field. Especially Barnes who used his length to attack the rim and create high-percentage shots for himself. Philly had to put lengthier defenders on him to slow him down in this game. That stifled Toronto’s offense just enough to allow the Sixers to creep back into the game.

Philly’s second unit finally came out to play. They scored 30 plus points in tonight’s game and that allowed the Sixers to overcome a 14-point deficit to retake the lead. Joel Embiid had another impressive showing as he scored 27 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in this game. He is slowly rounding into the form with every game he plays. However, despite an explosive night he still did not get the help that he needed to take this game from Toronto. Jared Butler (15 points) and Quentin Grimes (13 points) showed up in this game, but not many other players joined them and that was the difference in this game.

Toronto’s role players made plays when it mattered, and the Sixers had another night where they did not have it on either side of the ball. They were able to grab rebounds and make timely buckets to keep Philly at bay in this contest.

Tyrese Maxey had an off night and did not score his first points until late in the third quarter. He needs to play better than that and an average night for him helps Philly get a much-needed victory. Philly cannot afford to continue to let winnable games slip away, they need the upcoming All-Star break to regroup and figure out ways to get Maxey and George more involved in the game plan on a nightly basis.

The Sixers must let Embiid, Maxey, and George play as many games together as possible and put as many shot creators as they can around them. They get one more chance tomorrow night against the Brooklyn Nets to get a win and create some positive momentum before this weekend’s All-Star Game.

Philly will now prepare to face the Nets tomorrow night and they will need to force Brooklyn to take well contested shots and limit them to one possession. They cannot afford to do what they did tonight and give Brooklyn multiple opportunities to put points on the board. In addition, the Sixers must cash in on the high-percentage shooting opportunities created off their ball movement. They could not cash in on those opportunities in tonight’s game and need to find their offensive prowess once again.

Implementing these things into their game plan for tomorrow night will put the Sixers in great position to win their 21^st game of the season.