Sixers fall to Raptors for third straight loss
TORONTO - The 76ers team that went into Air Canada Centre on Sunday was a shell of the squad that upset the Toronto Raptors in January. Even that might be a stretch.
TORONTO - The 76ers team that went into Air Canada Centre on Sunday was a shell of the squad that upset the Toronto Raptors in January. Even that might be a stretch.
And it showed.
The playoff-bound Raptors defeated the banged-up and undermanned Sixers, 113-105, in front of a sellout crowd of 19,800. The score could have been worse, but the Raptors rested four of their starters in the fourth quarter. The fifth starter - point guard Cory Joseph - played only 3 minutes, 42 seconds of the quarter.
The Sixers' third consecutive loss dropped them to 28-49 with five games remaining. The Sixers have also lost three of this season's four games against the Raptors (47-30). Their lone victory was a 94-89 decision on Jan. 18 at the Wells Fargo Center. That was the last time the teams met before Sunday.
Because of injuries and trades, point guard T.J. McConnell is the lone remaining Sixers' starter from that matchup. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot has replaced Nik Stauskas at shooting guard. Power forward Ersan Ilyasova was traded to the Atlanta Hawks. Center Joel Embiid and small forward Robert Covington had season-ending meniscus tears.
Center Nerlens Noel, the sixth man on Jan. 18, was traded to the Dallas Mavericks.
"It feels like a long time ago," coach Brett Brown said. "It really does feel like a very, very, very long time ago."
Another Sixer, Dario Saric, has gone from a role-playing reserve to the team's standout starting power forward since the last meeting. However, he played only 23:47 because of soreness in his left heel.
"I'm good," Saric said. "I have this left heel soreness a little bit [from] too many games these last two years. ... The medical staff, they want to protect me."
Saric has played a ton of games over that time with his former Turkish basketball team, the Croatian national team, and now with the Sixers.
"It's not something that can be serious like some injury that can take me out for one month or two months," said Saric, who finished with 16 points and three rebounds. "It's just soreness [from] too many games, too much jumping and running."
He actually felt better than expected on Sunday, and asked trainer Kevin Johnson if he could play longer than the predetermined 24-minute limit.
Luwawu-Cabarrot, who is playing with right-knee soreness, paced the Sixers with a career-high 23 points. Eleven of them came in the first quarter.
Alex Poythress, who signed with the Sixers Sunday morning, finished with 11 points, three rebounds, and one block in his debut.
The Sixers were able to get an injury hardship exception to add him as the 16th player to their roster. In addition to Embiid and Covington, Jahlil Okafor (knee), Ben Simmons (foot), and Jerryd Bayless (wrist) are done for the season.
"We are kind of just dropping like flies, man," said McConnell, who finished with four points and a game-high 11 assists. "We are just giving new opportunities to new guys. We have to continue to play hard.
"You'd be surprised in the month of April what playing hard will do for you."
The Sixers were down by 10 points at the half and cut the lead to four points (65-61) with 8:02 to go in the third quarter. However, the Raptors went on to build a 17-point advantage in the fourth quarter.
Serge Ibaka paced the Raptors with 24 points, six rebounds, and six blocks. He was one of six double-figure scorers for Toronto. The Sixers made things appear closer than it was by going on a late 11-0 run before the Raptors scored the final basket.
"We are committed to ending the season the way that we had been playing," Brown said of the late run. "None of us intend on just rolling over. We're playing with a spirit, which I've said many times, I hope that the city of Philadelphia is proud of."
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