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3 observations after Sixers drop to 0-2 with defeat in Toronto originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
A trip to Toronto and matchup against a Raptors team that went 25-57 last year didn’t get the Sixers in the win column.
They dropped their first road game of the season and dipped to 0-2 overall Friday night, falling to a 115-107 loss to the Raptors.
Toronto’s Scottie Barnes recorded 27 points and shot 8 for 11 from the floor. Jakob Poeltl added 19 points, nine rebounds and four blocks.
Kelly Oubre Jr. had a team-high 28 points for the Sixers. Tyrese Maxey posted 24 but had a second consecutive poor shooting game, going 6 for 23 from the field and 2 for 12 beyond the arc.
Sixers stars Joel Embiid (left knee injury management) and Paul George (left knee bone bruise) remained out. Five Raptors were sidelined by injuries, including RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley.
The Sixers will face the Pacers on Sunday afternoon in Indiana. Here are observations on their defeat to Toronto:
Switching up the starters
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse made two changes to his opening-night starting five. He inserted Raptors legend Kyle Lowry and Caleb Martin, shifting Eric Gordon and KJ Martin to the second unit. Maxey, Oubre and Andre Drummond stayed starters.
A playoff starter last year, Lowry is clearly comfortable playing alongside Maxey. At 38 years old, he’s still capable of handling the ball, taking catch-and-shoot three-pointers, setting effective screens and doing just about anything Nurse schemes up.
Caleb Martin, after playing 37 minutes off the bench in his Sixers debut, got 34 Friday night. Both Caleb Martin and KJ Martin spent time defending Raptors point forward Barnes.
The Sixers’ defense was far from exemplary in the early going, but Maxey matched much of Toronto’s scoring with a 13-point, five-assist first quarter. Maxey took more free throws in the first quarter than he did all game Wednesday against the Bucks, drawing (and hitting) five foul shots.
Foul trouble everywhere you look
The Sixers did not follow anywhere close to Plan A at center in Toronto.
Drummond conceded an and-one layup to Poeltl with 8:51 left in the first quarter. He picked up his second foul on the play, leading to Guerschon Yabusele’s entry.
Offensively, Yabusele was productive right away. He threw down a dunk off of a pick-and-roll with Maxey and his ball screens helped free the 23-year-old guard for consecutive pull-up threes. The second came on a well-executed double drag set.
Like in the opener, it was quickly apparent that Yabusele is unaccustomed to protecting the rim as a center. Second-year Raptors wing Gradey Dick went right at him in the first quarter, drawing the Frenchman’s second foul and scoring an and-one hoop.
Through two games, Drummond and Yabusele have totaled 20 fouls. Caleb Martin and Lowry also ran into foul trouble Friday.
Nurse used KJ Martin at center for a few minutes before turning to Adem Bona. The rookie fouled Barnes after about 25 seconds on the floor.
Twelve Sixers hit the court by the 9:38 mark of the second quarter, including Reggie Jackson and Jared McCain. Nurse tried a little bit of everything in a foul-filled second period and found no great answers. The Sixers’ half-court offense was a slog, depending heavily on Maxey and offensive rebounds.
Nothing doing for Maxey
Life didn’t suddenly become smooth for the Sixers when the third quarter began.
Caleb Martin couldn’t handle Maxey’s kick-out pass to the corner and the ball trickled out of bounds. Drummond was whistled for a moving screen. The Raptors guarded Maxey tightly as a team and held him without a field goal in the third quarter.
The Sixers still managed to hang around, in part because Toronto committed turnovers all game long. Drummond nabbed four steals in his 22 minutes. Oubre stepped in to take a charge and draw Davion Mitchell’s fourth foul early in the third period. The lefty wing also provided several timely offensive plays in the third, connecting with Drummond on an alley-oop and scoring a couple of self-created buckets.
Though the Sixers trimmed their deficit down to two points late in the third quarter, Toronto surged early in the fourth.
Undrafted rookie Jamison Battle knocked down a pair of threes and converted an and-one push shot that gave the Raptors a 98-79 advantage. Toronto was the livelier team for the majority of the game and the Sixers failed to generate any serious runs. The Raptors showed their youth at times in the final minutes, struggling against the Sixers’ full-court pressure and zone defenses, but a last-ditch comeback wasn’t in the cards.
Most of Maxey’s jumpers kept falling short and he even air balled one. Through two games, he’s 16 for 54 (29.2 percent) from the floor.