Josh Richardson's Latest Effort Shouldn't Go Unnoticed

Over the last week, the Philadelphia 76ers have had tons of success. Dating back to last Sunday, the Sixers began a bit of a hot streak, winning four games in a row. That included two games, which were back to back against the San Antonio Spurs and the Miami Heat.

On Monday night, the Sixers traveled for the first time in a little while, looking to make it five in a row. Unfortunately, things didn't go their way in Toronto. As we know, the Sixers have had some surprising struggles when it comes to playing the Raptors on the road.

No matter what the circumstances are in the regular season, Philly just cannot seem to get the job done at Scotiabank Arena. Monday was no different. Despite the Raptors missing one of their key players in Kyle Lowry, Toronto still proved they are one of the top dogs in the Eastern Conference, even without two former stars DeMar DeRozan and Kawhi Leonard on the roster.

It was an ugly loss on Monday. Although the final score of 101-96 indicated the matchup ended up being a close one, the Sixers never really seemed like they were going to be able to come away with the victory. Mainly, due to the fact that their All-Star center, Joel Embiid managed to miss all eleven of his field goal attempts, totaling for zero points.

Being that the Sixers' offense tends to rely on Embiid's offensive production more often than not, his lack of scoring happened to be the big story on Tuesday morning. However, it wasn't all bad for the Sixers. While there are no trophies for losing in basketball, the follow-up performance by shooting guard, Josh Richard should not go unnoticed.

On Saturday, Richardson had the opportunity to go against his former team, the Miami Heat. Though he denies having any extra motivation for playing against the team that traded him away in the offseason, Richardson sure looked like somebody who was playing with a chip on his shoulder.

The 26-year-old guard ended up having a career-night over the weekend, dropping 32 points, in a matter of 26 minutes on the court. Seeing as though he had a goal of wanting to "kill the Heat" when he plays them, it seemed like that game could be marked as an outlier, considering the circumstances.

However, Richardson has been keeping it consistent. On Monday night, his follow-up performance was quite promising. Richardson had to put in some extra time, since the Raptors put up more of a fight, and the Sixers' guard helped keep his team in it.

Although he only drained 47-percent of his shots from the field this time around, Richardson shot very well from long-range once again, knocking down five out of nine three-pointers. Overall, Richardson checked out of Monday night's game with a team-high of 25 points. While the final results overshadowed J-Rich's performance, the Sixers could be happy moving forward, knowing that Richardson's stock is slowly, but surely rising.