PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers took control of their home contest with the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night as they turned a 7-point deficit into a 3-point lead at the half. The Sixers had the momentum, but then gave it all away in the third when the Raptors outscored them 44-26 on their way to handing the Sixers a 121-112 loss.
Tyrese Maxey led Philadelphia with 24 points and nine assists, VJ Edgecombe had 21 points, six rebounds, and four assists, Quentin Grimes had 21 off the bench, and Andre Drummond had 10 and 12 rebounds. Trendon Watford had nine points and Jabari Walker had nine and nine rebounds.
Here are the three biggest takeaways for the Sixers following the loss to the Raptors:
Turnover problems
While many will point to the terrible third quarter in this one–which makes sense–the turnovers were a problem from the jump. The Sixers committed 21 turnovers on the night which led to 31 points for the Raptors. Maxey, Dominick Barlow, Drummond, and Watford had three turnovers each while Edgecombe had four of them. The Raptors are a team with a lot of length so it makes sense that Philadelphia was unable to really find a rhythm, but that is something that has to be ironed out as time moves forward.
“We were just careless,” Edgecombe explained. “Especially, myself. Being careless with the ball tonight. We just gotta be stronger. You’re not gonna get calls every time. Even if it is a foul, you’re not gonna get a call every time. So, refs not perfect. We’re not perfect. Just gotta play through it and just be strong with the ball. Yeah, to be honest, just complete passes. That’s the main thing. Just complete the passes.”
Defensive issues late
The Sixers did pull to within three at 111-108 with 3:23 left, but they couldn’t get enough defensive stops. They sent a lot of traps toward Toronto star Brandon Ingram, but he made the right play every time. He only took one shot, which he made, but he had two assists as he found Immanuel Quickley for a big triple and RJ Barrett for a slam. That turned out the lights as Philadelphia certainly missed its opportunity to pull off another stunning comeback.
Coach Nick Nurse stated:
I mean, it’s a tough one. I think that we’re probably going to have those three guards out there, right? So, you know, one of them is going to end up on one of those two guys in a lineup like that. I’d love to go back and play those two possessions over and play him straight up and see if he’s going to make the turnaround jumper, or get fouled, or whatever he does, and they knew it was coming. They play through him late, right? They go to a variety of sets to get him the ball and, I mean, it was close, man. I thought he looked pretty shaky getting those out of there, and I thought we had a good trap on him, but he got them out both times without us getting a piece of him.
Jabari Walker contributes
The Sixers have needed this version of Walker to show up and he did on Wednesday. He came up with a lot of big plays on the glass which is something the Sixers needed against this scrappy Raptors team and he also knocked down a 3. One has to believe this is the type of game Nurse and the coaching staff will be looking to build on with him. He has shown this type of potential while with the Portland Trail Blazers so the ability to contribute on a nightly basis is there for him.
“Well, obviously, he was really good on the glass, right?” Nurse said after the contest. “I think it was lot of discussion on who was going to finish and all that kind of stuff as usual, but I think he—I don’t know what he had for numbers, but it sure felt like he had five offensive rebounds, nine for the game. I think that was probably it. He was really—nine rebounds in 23 minutes. I think that was probably it. He had a couple putbacks as well. So, he gave us some size on (Scottie) Barnes and Ingram as well.”
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: 3 biggest takeaways for Sixers following tough loss to Raptors at home
