Sixers fall short vs. Toronto in 106-103 loss

In the team’s final home showing before the All-Star break, the Sixers had a very disappointing showing against the lowly Raptors, 106-103. The loss is made especially disappointing by the fact that for one of the few times this season, the Sixers had Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey all on the court tonight.

Per the usual, the Sixers’ best friend is the fact that the East is terrible. They’ve fallen to two games behind the Bulls for the final play-in spot with the Bulls sitting at 22-31, and the 76ers at 20-33. Will they lose in the play-in if they make it? Yeah probably, but who knows, maybe the Eagles winning it all lights a spark under the city’s 3 other teams.

Embiid gets a pass tonight, putting up a very good 27/12/4 on 8-19 shooting. Unfortunately, the big man isn’t helping any narratives with the way he ended the game. With the game in his hands, instead of taking the open shot for the win, Embiid seemingly has some mental error deciding to pass the ball, turning it over, and losing the game. Obviously the Sixers wouldn’t have been in it without him, but these are mistakes you can’t make.

EMBIID WITH A CRUCIAL TURNOVER 😭

Raptors steal the W in Philly 👀 pic.twitter.com/rZvbu8E8Ys

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 12, 2025

The former MVP has finally started to get in a rhythm with his health and how the Sixers originally planned to use him at the beginning of the year. Still means no back-to-backs, but at least now he’s out with injury management.

Tyrese Maxey had arguably his worst game of the season tonight, unfortunately. Maxey went into the game with 18 straight 25+ point performances but tonight put up just 9 on 1-9 shooting. And tonight, in a one-point game, Maxey’s lack of production was the difference.

On the bright side, however, the Sixers’ new additions provided a fantastic boost off the bench tonight.

Quentin Grimes continued to play well with his new squad, putting up 13/7/4 in 36 minutes. Wouldn’t be surprised if he begins to start over Justin Edwards, who played just 16 minutes tonight.

Jared Butler played nicely on both ends of the court as well, finishing with 15/4/4 in 16 minutes.

The difference for the group as a whole was the three-point shooting. The whole game, the Sixers were atrocious from distance, shooting 23.7%. Goes without saying that you can’t do that in today’s NBA.

On the Raptors side, Scottie Barnes was unstoppable all night long. He ended with a double-double and 33/10/3. Immanuel Quickley, Ochai Agbaji, and Gradey Dick all put up respectable performances as well.

Toronto’s newest addition, Brandon Ingram, did not play tonight as he was waiting for the extension the team rewarded him with earlier today. Ingram inked a 3-year, $120 million extension as the team looks to make him part of their long-term plans.

Less shame in losing to the post-deadline Raptors, I guess. Still not a great team, but the addition of Ingram rounds them out pretty well. The starting 5 is sort of a jack of all trades master of none situation with just a bunch of ok guys and Scottie Barns, but an improvement nonetheless.

The Sixers will travel to Brooklyn for their last game before the break tomorrow. A win would probably mean more to the team than it looks like it would on the surface as they try to avoid going into the break on a 5 game-losing streak.

The immediate schedule after the break is a mixed bag of some good and some bad teams throughout. With the team given a week to rest and heal up, the hope is that they can catch fire in the second half of the season. As I mentioned the East is pretty bad so it’s not impossible that this happens. A lot of jobs could be depending on it as the Sixers will surely take a deep look internally if things continue to go wrong.

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