Philly Sports Jabronis
Report From Philadelphia 76ers
Game Recap: Raptors 119, 76ers 103
The 76ers (0-8) enjoyed an auspicious start to the finale of their three-game homestand, but the Toronto Raptors’ (6-3) big start to the second half proved to be too much to overcome. The Sixers staked themselves to a five-point lead after 12 minutes of play, with their 34 first-quarter points marking a new season-high. The Raptors, which held a six-point margin at intermission, outscored the Sixers by 13 in the third quarter, converting 62-percent of their shots in the period. Toronto’s 119-103 victory snapped a three-game skid.
Jahlil Okafor, for the sixth time in eight outings this season, led the Sixers in scoring, doing so with a career-high tying 26 points. On the heels of a 36.0-percent shooting effort his previous game, the Duke product hit 13 of his 22 field goal tries. Jerami Grant racked up the first double-double of his career with 12 points and 10 rebounds. T.J. McConnell established a new personal-best with 13 assists.
Philadelphia’s Kyle Lowry paced Toronto with 23 points and eight assists; however, it was Luis Scola who lit the second-half spark for his team, producing 17 of his 21 points in the third quarter. The Raptors were without marquee free agent signing DeMarre Carroll. A foot problem kept him out of a third straight game.
The Sixers continued to deal with injuries as well. Nerlens Noel missed a second consecutive game with wrist soreness. Richaun Holmes couldn’t play after straining a hamstring during warm-ups.
Top Moment:
The Sixers, having watched Toronto rip off the first 11 points of the third quarter, were searching for a needed spark three minutes into the second half. Moments after establishing a new career rebounding-high, Jerami Grant provided an emphatic end to his team’s drought, surging down the lane and slamming home a dunk. On the Sixers’ ensuing possession, he again did his best to bring energy to the court, delivering another stuff.
Brett Brown Said – On the short-handed Sixers’ attempts to keep pace with the Raptors:
“We just tried to put out fires all over the place. You’re just trying to find combinations to be competitive, find ways to score.”
Of Note:
Thanks once again to the ridiculously helpful and awesome powers of basketball-reference.com’s “Play Index” tool, more context can be given to the way that Jahlil Okafor and T.J. McConnell have opened their respective careers. With 26 points, Okafor became the 27th player in NBA history to manufacture 20 points at least five times through his first eight games. McConnell, meanwhile, with 13 helpers, became the first player in league history with three 12-assist performances through his first eight appearances.
Prior to tip-off, Brett Brown provided an update on Nerlens Noel, who entered the day being listed as questionable with wrist pain.
“He tried at shoot-around [Wednesday morning], and just couldn’t hold the ball,” Brown said. “It’s the padding of his hand. And it just wasn’t worth it. You look at what’s around the corner. It’s a tough week. We’ve got multiple games, and probably the multiple games trumps the difficulty of the opponents. It’s just the fact that we’re playing a lot, not who we’re playing. So we hope to get ahead of the story, sit him down, reap the benefit of that with a more complimentary team on the Oklahoma [City] and San Antonio trip.”
Noel sustained his injuries last Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Brown also discussed the status of Robert Covington. On Monday, the thinking was that the three-point shooting specialist had chance to play Saturday at San Antonio.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen. We learned [Wednesday] that it’s probably a day too soon, that date.”
There was an encouraging development regarding the health of point guards Kendall Marshall and Tony Wroten, both of whom are recovering from January 2015 ACL tears. On Wednesday, they were assigned to the Delaware 87ers for the next phase of their rehab and return-to-play protocol.
“I think it’s…just another reason why we have a relationship with an [NBA Development League] team, and the proximity of that relationship to just put them in a car and let them just drive down the road, and tap into playing players where they can actually compete a little bit and try some things,” Brett Brown said. “It just will create more of an environment for them to move forward a little bit faster.”
Circumstances will dictate when the Sixers decide to shuttle Marshall and Wroten between the Sixers and Sevens.
“When our team is either on the road, and they’ll stay back, and tap into that while we’re gone. Or like [Wednesday], in shootaround, when you don’t have the luxury of them feeling bodies cause I want to keep my guys fresh and healthy. But we’ll go back and forth as time permits.”
Brown added that, at this stage, neither Marshall nor Wroten is slated to appear in any games for the Sevens.
Next Up:
The first stop on the Sixers’ weekend trip will be Chesapeake Energy Arena, where they face the Oklahoma City Thunder (5-3) at 8:00 PM EST on Friday. The Thunder, despite finishing eight games over .500 last season, lost a tie-breaker with New Orleans for the eighth and final Western Conference Playoff seed. It was the first time since the 2008-2009 campaign, the franchise’s first season in Oklahoma City, that the Thunder failed to qualify for the playoffs. Even though Kevin Durant was sidelined for all but 27 games last year, head coach Scott Brooks didn’t survive the team’s shortcomings. Billy Donovan, who twice won national championships at the University of Florida, was hired in April. On Wednesday, Oklahoma City announced Durant would miss seven to 10 contests with a left hamstring strain.
