Another Second Half Skid Stops Sixers

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Toronto 119, Philadelphia 103 – Box Score

The Walking Dead is a television show on AMC beloved by millions and millions of people nationally. The Philadelphia 76ers are a professional basketball beloved by a small, loyal following in the Tri-state area, and mocked by many others on a national scale. One thing the two entities have in common is that major characters can be felled down and left for dead at a moment’s notice.

Heading into Wednesday night’s game against the Raptors, the Sixers were already down two key starters in Nerlens Noel and Robert Covington (not to mention long-term absences like Kendall Marshall and Tony Wroten). Then, during pregame warmups, Noel’s replacement Richaun Holmes pulled a hamstring and was a late scratch from the contest. Suddenly, the Sixers were facing last year’s Atlantic Division champion with just 9 players, approximately half of which were undrafted free agents.

Still, as is their way, the Sixers staved off the zombie hordes for as long as possible, even leading by five points after the first quarter. Jahlil Okafor dropped 10 points in the frame and had another huge outing, finishing with 26 points on 13-22 shooting, 7 rebounds, and 4 blocked shots. Big Jah is now averaging over 20 points on better than 50% shooting for the season. If nothing else during this 0-8 start to the season, Sixers fans can take solace that their rookie big man will be a danger to opposing defenses for years to come.

Eventually though, the Sixers kryptonite reared its ugly head: the start of the third quarter. Still only down 6 points at halftime, Philadelphia once again struggled coming out of the locker room, allowing a 11-0 Raptors run to start the second half that more or less put the game away.

Jerami Grant, getting the start at power forward instead of his usual small forward with Richaun Holmes a late scratch, actually recorded his first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. But he had no answer for Luis Scola in the third quarter, as the Argentinian big man dropped 17 of his 21 points in the third quarter alone. Crazy to think that Grant was just 2 years old when Scola made his professional debut in Argentina all those years ago; he put the youngster through a clinic on this night.

In the end, the Raptors didn’t even need to go back to guys like Kyle Lowry (23 points and 8 assists) or Jonas Valanciunas (11 points and 12 rebounds) in the fourth quarter. Sixers fans just need to remind themselves that only a couple of these guys taking the court right now are even a part of the long-term plan. Once some reinforcements arrive, like Tyreese showing up in Season 3 of the Walking Dead, things will perk back up.

Other Game Notes:

• T.J. McConnell had another nice game distributing the ball, recording 13 assists against just 2 turnovers. The problem is he takes so long to get off a shot. When someone kicks the ball out to him, there can’t be a defender within 8 feet of him because he needs to wind up like an old jack-in-the-box before the ball finally comes out.
• Hollis Thompson broke out of his early-season shooting slump, hitting 5 of 6 shots from behind the arc. Hopefully, this effort carries over to games going forward when the Sixers are actually within striking distance.
• Isaiah Canaan continued his better play in the off-ball role, also draining 5 threes on 10 attempts. He looked like a surefire cut when the other point guards start coming back, but he may be playing himself back into staying on the roster.