Joel Embiid, 76ers Only See Positives After Win vs. Raptors

For the second-straight game, the Philadelphia 76ers were heavy favorites to win, considering the circumstances for the other team. Last Friday, the Golden State Warriors paid a visit to the Sixers without the services of the All-Stars Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Andrew Wiggins.

Through the first half of last Friday’s game, the healthier Sixers trailed. When they turned things around coming out for the second half, the Sixers gained an upper hand and defeated the Warriors 118-106.

After getting a couple of days off, the Sixers returned to the court on Monday night to host the Toronto Raptors. Entering the matchup, the Raptors were in the midst of a five-game losing streak. They’ve won just two of their last ten games.

Not only was Toronto hitting a slump, but they also had a couple of notable injuries as well. The Sixers, who are slowly but surely getting healthier, got off to an ideal start over Toronto on Monday. While the first quarter was tight, the Sixers pulled away in the second quarter, gaining a lead as large as 14 points in the first half. By halftime, the Sixers were out in front with an 11-point lead.

Philly was taking care of business as expected on Monday night, but the Raptors weren’t ready to throw in the towel at halftime. Outscoring the Sixers by 11 points in the third quarter, the Raptors shifted the momentum and tied up the matchup. Going into the fourth quarter, the Sixers and the Raptors were even at 78.

Toronto started to pull away a bit in the fourth quarter, leading by as many as seven points. But the Sixers didn’t let the game get away from them. With both teams tied at 99 by the end of regulation, the Sixers and the Raptors needed an extra period to find a winner.

Considering the Sixers possessed a double-digit lead going into the second half against a struggling Toronto team, many expected the Sixers to pounce and pick up a blowout win. Unfortunately for Philadelphia, their potential blowout win turned into a blown lead.

Despite struggling to maintain a significant lead in the second half, 76ers head coach Doc Rivers remains positive as his team got the results they ultimately wanted.

“Listen, everybody blows leads in this league,” said Rivers. “That lead was blown by the fourth quarter, beginning. We won the game, I celebrate that. Like, I’m not gonna get into that — we won the game. We should focus on the positive stuff. Like, our guys fought, we didn’t have it. We missed wide-open shots tonight. Wide open shots... When you do that, the other team is probably, at some point, going to make a run. A lot of teams, when they make a run, go the other way. We just hung in there. They got a lead on us. How about talking about us coming back? We actually were down by eight for a stretch. That, to me, should be celebrated.”

By going up 5-2 in the final five minutes of the matchup, the Sixers left Monday night’s matchup against the Raptors with a 104-101 win. The win might not have been comfortable, but Sixers center Joel Embiid sees the positives in the tight win.

“Even when it’s ugly, it still counts,” said Embiid. “We were up a lot the whole night. They made that run at the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth, but we reacted. That’s what we’ve been working on — to stay calm and just keep playing. We know teams are gonna make runs. Like, last game against Golden State, they came out hot, and we didn’t go crazy. We stayed composed, and we knew what we had to do to come back and win the game. Tonight, although we were up big for most of the night, when they took that lead, we did a great job.”

With that win, the Sixers progressed to 17-12 on the night. The victory over Toronto helps the Sixers build on their best win streak of the season as they snag their fifth in a row. As always, the Sixers have a lot they want to work on moving forward, but they’ll remain satisfied with the final results of Monday’s matchup.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.