Toronto Too Much for Sixers Saturday Night

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Toronto 108, Philadelphia 95 – Box Score

If the Sixers lose, but a large portion of the fan base is watching the NFL playoffs, do they make a sound? Early on, it looked like Philadelphia would make some noise against a tired Toronto team playing its 5th game in 7 days. The Sixers jumped out to an early 12-0 lead behind the play of Ish Smith and Jahlil Okafor. Okafor would have a nice game with 19 points on 9-15 shooting, while Ish went off for a career-high 28 points on 12-22 shooting, 4 assists, and 3 steals.

However, the Raptors have two all-stars in Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan and the pair eventually took control of the game. Lowry tallied 25 points on 10-17 shooting, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. DeRozan chipped in with 19 points on 9-17 shooting, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists, while also treating this game like next month’s Slam Dunk Contest in Toronto. The soon-to-be free agent threw down a couple highlight-reel dunks, including this baptism-by-fire of Jahlil Okafor.

DeMar DeRozan, are you serious?!? https://t.co/2HiILCOkTa

— Bleacher Report NBA (@BR_NBA) January 10, 2016

Turning Point

The Sixers were still down just 77-73 in the fourth quarter, with JaKarr Sampson heading to the free throw line with a chance to cut to deficit to two points. Unfortunately, he missed both shots and Toronto would go a 7-0 run to stretch their lead to 11 and more or less ice the game. Free throws were a bugaboo for the Sixers all evening, as they made just 6 of 14 free throws, while Toronto, one of the top teams in the league at getting to the charity stripe, hit 21 of 27. Lowry was pivotal during that stretch, and as he so often does, showed up big in crunch time in his hometown Philadelphia with 10 points in the fourth quarter.

Other Game Notes

• Defense was the issue for the Sixers Saturday night, as they had a great performance offensively, draining 11 of their 17 threes, and only committing 13 turnovers.
• T.J. McConnell shook off arguably his worst career game against the Hawks, and orchestrated the offense well with 8 assists in 15 minutes.
• For some reason, Richaun Holmes did not see the court, getting a DNP-Coach Decision from Brett Brown. Holmes has been one of the best players for the Sixers lately, so this is a real head-scratcher.

The Sixers’ tough stretch of opponent continues Sunday, as they host LeBron James and the Cavaliers.