NBA: Sixers wake up too late – Kawhi shines again

The Toronto Raptors (7-1) remain undefeated at home. Against the Philadelphia 76ers (4-4) the Canadians won 129:112 (BOXSCORE) thanks to a closed team performance, but made it unnecessarily exciting in the fourth quarter. In the final stages, Kawhi Leonard makes the difference between the two teams.

After his break in Milwaukee, Kawhi Leonard returned to the Starting Five for Toronto and his influence was immediately felt. In his irresistible manner, he was twice in the password path early on and thus cranked up the Raptors game in Transition. Philly started off quite sleepy and was trailing early, with the missing shooters once again making themselves felt.

This changed a little with bank players like J.J. Redick or Mike Muscala, but the complete Second Unit of the Raptors did a good job. Toronto led after twelve minutes with 35:26. The Sixers could not stop the turnovers, but especially Ben Simmons was always negative. In the meantime, Leonard had to be treated in the cabin after getting a finger in his eye.

Toronto led with up to 17 points, but then got problems under his own basket. Philly followed the rebounds with mostly two, sometimes even three players and scored several times after second chances. After a weak first half, the visitors were only 53:67 behind at the break.

The image of the game didn’t change in the second half either, the Raptors had everything under control and now got even easier finishes on the ring, be it through transition or setplays. Joel Embiid, Philly’s best man until then, had to be extremely careful with foul problems early on, which Toronto exploited mercilessly. The result was an 11-0 run in the middle of the quarter, finished by an extremely deep triumvirate from Kyle Lowry.

Pascal Siakam and Leonard also had a big part in the run, they kept up the pace and punished sleepy Sixers. At the end of the section they countered again with a mini run, but had already collected more than 100 points (86:105).

But the game wasn’t over yet, with a fast 8:0 run was at least halfway back to strike distance. The long-distance throw was now better and Toronto seemed to be a bit too sure of their cause in the meantime, Embiid shortened from downtown 3:30 minutes before the end to another six points.

But then followed the appearance of Leonard, who stole the ball from Simmons again and a little later let the Australian jump into the void and then hit from a distance (124:111). It was the decision, Sixers coach Brett Brown emptied his bench, while there were once again MVP calls for the claw.

Leonard was once again the best Raptor scorer with 31 points (10/19 FG, 4 Steals), in addition Jonas Valenciunas (23) from the bench delivered a good result. Siakam (15, 15 rebounds) as well as Lowry (20, 12 assists) both achieved a double-double. Among the guests the strong Joel Embiid (31, 11/21 FG, 11 Rebounds) got too little support. Ben Simmons (11, 10 Assists, 11 Turnover) played an inglorious triple-double, Robert Covington (15) and J.J. Redick (13, 3/11 Dreier) delivered at least a little production.

Toronto Raptors vs. Philadelphia 76ers 129:112 (BOXSCORE)

Danny Green. 10 points at 4/9 from the field sound uninviting, but Green represented the strong defense of the Raptors that evening and scored a very important threesome when Philly seemed to get head water in the fourth quarter. Whether it was Simmons or J.J. Redick, he stood his ground. Especially the way he stuck to Redick and fought for the numerous screens was impressive and the main reason why the best shooter of the Sixers hardly got a chance. Also strong for the Raptors: Lowry and Leonard, who played incredibly big in the final phase.

Ben Simmons. That was the worst game of the season for the reigning Rookie of the Year. The Australian did not get along with the aggressive defense of the Raptors at all and especially in the first half afforded ball loss after ball loss, many of them immediately led to easy Raptors points. Also in the final section these turnovers finally broke the neck of the Sixers.

The Raptors made Simmons’ life a living hell and much was reminiscent of the Boston Celtics’ defense from the playoffs presented to the Australian. Again and again the Australian ran into a wall of white jerseys at the drive, Toronto skilfully closed the pass roads (Leonard, Siakam, Green) and forced him to make mistakes. 11 ball losses were an inglorious career record for Simmons, before that it was 7 (also against Toronto in December 2017).