Tyrese Maxey, James Harden Analyze Sunday's Loss to Raptors

When the Philadelphia 76ers took the court on Sunday night to host the Toronto Raptors, they were primed for a big win. 

Not only did the Sixers have the healthier squad, but they were entering the matchup with a ton of momentum after picking up two-straight wins against playoff-caliber teams.

In the first quarter of action on Sunday, the Sixers continued gaining steam after a hot fourth quarter on Friday night as they shot 60-percent from the field and 50-percent from three as they outscored the Raptors 37-27. 

Despite leading by as much as 16 points in the first quarter, the Sixers couldn't put their foot on the gas and entirely separate themselves from a scrappy Raptors team.

Before halftime, the Sixers were outscored 30-17, causing them to go into the intermission trailing by three points after blowing their double-digit lead. While the Sixers bounced back in the third quarter and managed to get out in front before the fourth quarter, they struggled to close out the matchup with a victory.

"We didn't execute down the stretch," Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey admitted after the game. "It's like that sometimes. It's not intentional. We tried to, but it's kind of how the game goes sometimes, I guess."

76ers head coach Doc Rivers called out the Sixers for their poor execution after the game. His keyword following the matchup was "stagnant." Maxey, who didn't shy away from the reality of the night, used the same word to describe his team's performance against Toronto.

"We got a little stagnant," Maxey explained. "Started running stuff, Coach Doc talked about that, but it was mainly the defensive rebounding because they were getting second and third and fourth chance shots and they were scoring and capitalizing off them and we had to play half-court offense every single time coming down. In the first quarter, we were rebounding, running, sharing, and doing different things like that, but it's extremely hard when you're not getting stops. So, we gotta crash the glass and get those rebounds."

While the Raptors didn't necessarily have a spectacular fourth-quarter performance on Sunday night, the Sixers didn't do themselves any favors. As Philadelphia shot less than 30-percent from the field and knocked down just one of their six three-point attempts, the Sixers failed to score more than 15 points in the final 12 minutes.

After getting outrebounded and turning the ball over seven times to one, the Sixers dropped the ball in crunch time on Sunday night.

"We started off very good on both ends of the ball," said James Harden. "Rebounding the basketball, I guess just our tempo, and our pace slowed down. We didn't really rebound the basketball at a good enough level like we needed to, especially after that first quarter, and it was just a hard, scrappy game, which we knew that was coming in. We didn't make shots, but we still gave ourselves a chance to win, and we had plenty of opportunities."

The Sixers wrapped up Sunday night's matchup with a disappointing 93-88 loss. Now, they have little time to rest before taking on an even tougher matchup on Monday night as they host the Eastern Conference's top seed, the Miami Heat.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.