Rewind vs. Toronto Raptors - 12/8/19

in the Eastern Conference. Now full game in front of the Raptors, the seventy six Ers seventeen and seven, while Toronto drops to fifteen and seven, losing their third straight game. I'm Brian Seltzer. We expect to hear from Brett Brown in just a few moments. Matissetaibel a terrific effort tonight with the career high twenty points to go with the career high five three pointers. The seventy Sixers all around

until a really adventuresome final five minutes of play. They had some really good defense tonight, specifically on Pascal Siakam. They held him to six points through three quarters. He came alive for ten points in the fourth, but the Sixers, which led by as much as twenty one in the game, had enough insurance to fend off the raptors. Yeah, it was a steady dose of different looks throughout the night that the seventy Sixers put on. Siakim has scored twenty

five points against the Sixers. Back on November twenty fifth, when these two teams met for the first time, Al Horford started the game on Siakim. Ben Simmons picked up the load After that, Joel and Bead helped out, and the result was Siakam couldn't get to the rim and he had very few opportunities in open court and had to settle for jumpers. Ben Simmons with sixteen, eleven and nine, Al Horford with eleven and four. Here's Brett Brown at the podium on my team really too show how to

dress some of it. Some of it you just scratch your head and try to, you know, try to coach better and help them more, and you know, we It is disappointing the way that ended, because I thought for the most part we played good basketball. It's just the way that it ended. You have a little bit of a sour taste in your mouth, and then I'm reminded it was a good weekend and we just beat the NBA champs, and there's lots of good things that came out of it. Just the last part, um, wasn't one

of them. Just and again everybody's part of it. But then have to come meet those balls. He's your point guard and at times the circling back into the middle, you know, I think so, And it's part of part of the structure. Um. You know, I think in general, trying to get the ball handlers on the floor at times and have them still be your best defensive team, it doesn't work, um, And so like you just hope that as professional players we can handle that situation a

little bit better, and I believe that we will. As you said it early in the season, maybe the preseason, you wanted that second group to be a you caught it a bop squad. And so those groups that have been mtis and all at center, Yeah, do they look how you expect on defense at this point, Um, we we're trending in that direction, I think so. And I like the speed. I like the verse versatility. You know, Matisse is moving forward. I like the way that he

is trending. I thought offensively, for the large portion of the game, we were good, you know against a really good defensive team, that group that you're speaking of. I would say, yes, that that's starting to, like, um, take a shape that that I wished it did when we u when I sort of anointed him a bomb squad. It's your favorite horse, the favorite thing about the bias,

and that's a great want to do. It was it was a funny part of the game where he came in and he just went bucket, bucket, and like it spun out. I think into like sixteen eighteen, you know, fifteen again. And I think that in general he is in a good place offensively. I think that the structure in his world is appropriate. I think he's learning how to use it with playing well around him off him. But he's having a really good mindset lately to score.

Ben had some success so getting some trible penetration and the half court that a function of and ob guarding him up there cord and improving in that regard. But what did you think bez performance tonight? I think two things. At times, yes, uh, you know, the league guards been differently. The proximity of which Toronto guards him is close at times.

You know you can actually put him in probably some picking rolls and let him just all by himself, blown by people, and I thought he did a really good job of that tonight. I thought that the passing out of the post initially when they kept doubling, doubling, doubling, I think we did a pretty good job of moving the ball and just getting off it and finding the second side action. And I think in that action he did a good job of playing catch, go go catch game.

And just like he shot out of a rocket playing downhill. Seventy six or head coach Brett Brown after tonight's one ten and one oh four victory over the Toronto Raptors, and that's what it was. Feels nice to say that the Sixers had a tough one in Toronto one one ninety six lost thirteen days ago, but tonight they got off to a great start. In the second quarter. They were really able to open things up. They outscored the Raptors thirty to twenty. It was on the heels of

a strong finish to the first quarter. Tobias Harris Scott the seventy six ers going early. He was in double figures in the first quarter, finished with twenty six. It was his fifth twenty plus point game his last six times out batistible with a career high twenty points tonight.

Ben Simmons sixteen points, eleven rebounds, nine assists, Joel Embiid ten points, eight rebounds, six assists, but the seven turnovers, including the ones he had late, it was a real issue for the seventy six Ers tonight, which did a decent job with ball control. He's relative to how the game was playing out until the final five minutes of regulation. I mean they were sitting pretty with a nineteen point lead eight minutes to go, and then it was just

like the anchor dropped. Here came Toronto. I guess you never really felt like this one would get away. The Sixers led by as much as twenty one. It turned out they had enough insurance to lock up the win in the end, but it was a little bit of an uneasy finish. Nonetheless, the Sixers got what they needed and that was a win one ten, one oh four over the Raps. Tom McGinnis is here to give us some more analysis. He will bring that to you in a moment. It was a circuitous finished, Tom, to say

the least. But the seventy Sixers through three quarters they were clearly the better team. In this one tonight, Toronto, though able to capitalize on some turnovers and some aggressive d while pressing to make this one slightly more interesting than probably everyone would have hoped. Well, the Sixers, let's go back to the guts of the game and the ending, as Brett Brown to put it so aptly, and that

is it left the sour taste. But in the end it's a win over the Raptors, and that's been hard to come by obviously up there and certainly here as well. And so the Sixers finished the first quarter. You recall that Matisse Thyble and Bed with under two seconds to go, turns and passes over to the right perimeter, and Thyble, with only a tenth of a second to go in the first frame, makes a three. There was a foul

on the play. Lowry fouls them, and so Matisse makes a four point play literally with the final tenth of a second to go in the quarter. And the Sixers closed out that opening frame of the nine two run and allowed them to lead by five. And then they had a big run I think it was like thirteen to four and close out the first half, and that pushed the lead to fifteen. And then if you recall

in the third quarter, neither team really got going. The Sixers were kind of lucky because on an Obie missed a layup, the Sixers missfired, and finally they got a three by Harris to make it an eighteen point game. And you know, so often this year end in years passed, but specifically this year as well, the Sixers haven't built

enough of a cushion. And that was still early in the third, but down the stretch they were able to use that cushion and they needed it because they didn't finish the game strong they had in the final right around the last twelve possessions, they had turnovers in six

of them, and boy, that was just confounding. They were throwing the ball away left and right, the Raptors with pressure and you don't see you only see full core pressure in the NBA in special situations like that, just because these guys are too good, they're so athletic, and they moved the ball. It's just it's not like you can throw a diamond and one press on a team in the NBA. It doesn't work. But they were trapping and they were having success, and so the gap tightened.

And yet the Sixers hold them off. So in the end twelve and oh at home they beat the Raptors. Toronto's lost three in a row, and the Sixers got great performances from Harris and Thible and Simmons. It's talking about the defense. Time the seventy Sixers played on Pascal Sachem, scored twenty five and had the punctuating dunk to end

the game thirteen days ago in Toronto. But tonight the Sixers after relying mostly on Ben Simmons to do the defense on Siakam in that game at Toronto, and granted the Raptors didn't have Lowry that night, so that changed things. But tonight it was like a steady wave of Horford to start. Then Simmons Joe finished the first half on Siakam and he really couldn't get comfortable at all. He was limited to six points going him to the fourth right.

He had seven of eighteen in the end, but basically a non factor offensively, basically because of all the same points that you just raised. So they did a good job and then they got nothing from Gasol. He was over six, he picked up two early fouls. He wasn't the factor defensively and he was really a non factor offensively. I thought Lowry played really well. He made four three, twenty six points. Ogi on Anobi had a good start for them. They missed Van fleet Less. We forget he

left the game. He played only twelve minutes. He went out with a right knee contusion, did not return, and he's having a career year averaging around eighteen points per game. But a good job on siakam and Ibaka wasn't a huge factor in the game. He ended up following out. He had a dozen points at seven rebounds. But all in all, a good victory for the Sixers, And I think one of the big takeaways is being consistent and as Brett Brown would call it, the trending of batist table.

I mean the defense with the blocks, the steals, the deflection, the straight up man to man defense, whether he steals it or not. But now the threes. He made five, three, six of nine total from the field. And as I've said before, if you can start to count on him for consistent minutes, he's not gonna get twenty points that was a career high every game. But if he can get two or three threes a game, man, that's going to open some things up. That's the Sixers kind of

have to develop that. It wasn't for con tonight he started, he went one of six, he made only one three. But to get double digit threes is almost a must in tonight's or today's NBA. They ended up with fourteen Thible, as I say, with a career high five, and you're gonna have to develop those from within at least for now. And watching Thible shoot those from a fire was really a thing of beauty. And you know what in the Sixers one ten on a four win, his contributions, I mean,

the things that stand out the most. It was in a key point the game, in that third quarter where Toronto got the margin back to ten and it was three Steel and his finger roll another three from Thieball and that was when you really felt like the Sixers were in the driver's seat right now. They held them off.

This was a very good win. I mean, the Sixers shoot fifty percent, Toronto shoots only forty three percent, and the city you could tell there was a sense of urgency and understand how could there not be by the team when everybody else was feeling that coming into the gym here tonight and they held their ground and they

you know, this was a very good win. And you know, against a team was resilient with the championship pedigree that they possess and the dominance that they've had over the Sixers, they were not going to go away, and they didn't. It's just that the Sixers were able to build up a big enough lead and I think the crowd helped. And on a night where Ebid was not great, I mean he was not bad. He wasn't terrible, except at the end a couple of those passes weren't so great.

But he was thirty one minutes, three of seven and only ten points. He did have eight rebounds and six assists, but not a dominant player. And yet the Sixers had enough other really good performances like the trio that I mentioned, plus Horford played pretty well, and then Ennis and Scott gave you something as well. So great team victory tonight over Toronto. Tom Againnis. We will talk to you on Tuesday, next test the Denver Nuggets. All right, thanks, good night,

seventy sixers. Get the victory. One ten, one oh four. We've got some highlights coming up. Seventy sixers. They were climbing a pill early on in this one in the first quarter, but even though they were still behind, you could feel a momentum shift courtesy of Ben Simmons. Siakam gets it into the lane. Here's he buck up block by Horford. Big Al comes away with a block and now the Sixers with numbers. Simmons into the lane. Simmons downlow right and he banked it an he went right

at Siak timeout Toronto. Even though the Rafters were still up by two at that point eighteen to sixteen, the seventy sixers got a nice lift from some reserves. They closed the first quarter on a thirteen to four run and then actually gave them a twenty seven twenty two lead going into the second. The second was where the tone of this game really changed. Joel embeat his best stretch offensively came in quarter number two. Error is guarded

by Powell. Here comes a double in the form of Ibaka, who a bead, he fakes, he drives, he goes in and Ibaka spins back right side, shot up and good well done by a beat under control on balance reverse pim and turns and gets it from twelve to the right lelane in which Joel Embiid scored on consecutive possessions for the seventy Sixers. He was back in action tonight after being sidelined last night with a left hip issue. Sixers closed out half number one courtesy of their Rookmatise Thible,

giving them some extra insurance. Scott, with a twenty one point team last night against gets it again. Step that shot on Ronde Garside three ballers good his first basket in this game, and Mike Scott has made a fifty five forty two five three for the Sixers, and the Sixers would go into the half leading by the score

of fifty seven two forty two. The Sixers it felt like they had all the mojo on their side, and that only continued to be the case in the second half when Matisse Thybal gave the Sixers a nice lift when it seemed like the Raptors were closing in a bit. Simmons in the corner up top of Teas three ball right, so I got it. Back to back triples by the rook and time out Toronto and they love it. At Philadelphia.

They're on their feet. The Sixers are leading by eighteen seventy one fifty three and actually sandwiched in between those two threes by Thibaal, he stole the ball away from Toronto. That led to a run out finger roll for James Ennis the third. So a quick spurt by the seventy sixers, all that happening in less than forty five seconds tell them regain control the game up by eighteen seventy one, two fifty three through three quarters to sixers. They led

eighty six to sixty eight. Toronto was shooting under forty percent, just eight of twenty six from outside the arc. Pascal Siakam was held to just six points. Toronto tightened things up down the stretch after the Sixers started to have some turnover issues, but Matisse Thible was there as a studying presents well, gets it back still eight to shoot, Thible fakes it, shoots it and in passed it to the corner. Faked the pass to the corner of forty three.

That's a career best for him and the Sixers lead ninety four seventy five, and Ben Simmons would help put this one away as time was winding down against a pesky Toronto opponent. Now Matise catches fakes up to the bias five seconds down to Betty and he lays it up at in with the right hand bank shot. Sixers go up one oh seven ninety six to a minute forty five to go. Simmons was sixty. That was well done. Seventy Sixers would commit five bigger parton make that eight

turnovers in the final eight minutes of play. That did not help the cause, but they did have enough insurance thanks to a big second quarter and a good finish the first to fend off Toronto one ten to one oh four. Seventy six Ers shot better than fifty and a half percent from the field. They were fourteen of thirty two from outside the arc. Toronto was under thirty forty three and a half percent and just eleven of

thirty three from the perimeter. Sixers. They were minus two on the glass tonight seven on the offensive board, somewhat uncharacteristic, and again they were doing a pretty good job with turnovers until the final eight minutes. The Sixers finished with twenty turnovers in the game. Toronto committed seventeen, tying with Kyle Lowry for game high scoring honors. That would be Tobias Harris. Harris with eleven of his twenty six in

the first quarter. He was ten of twenty two overall, but four for eight from outside the arc, plus six rebounds and three assists in a block shot sixteen points, eleven rebounds, nine assists for Ben Simmons. He also had five turnovers in the game eleven four and five for

al Horford. Joel Embiid was back. Played thirty minutes, ten points, eight rebounds, six assists, seven turnovers for Embiid batistible career high twenty points and also a career high five three pointers on eight attempts eleven for James Ennis, the third off the bench. He was a nice spark plug for the seventy sixers as well. The Sixers now move into fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings. There were full game in front of the Raptors. The Sixers are seventeen

and seven. The Raptors are fifteen and seven. Up next for the seventy six Ers the Denver Nuggets, eight o'clock Star time. That's a change nationally televised game on your local radio Tuesday night down here at the Center against Denver, the third best team in the Western Conference. You've been listening to rewind look out for fresh episodes the day after every seventy sixers game this season.