Philadelphia plays foul and fouls often in loss to Toronto
The Sixers dropped to 0-2 on the young season after a poor effort against the underdog Raptors.
Friday night’s game in Toronto was objectively a rough viewing experience, with the Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers combining for 66 fouls on what became a three-hour-long game. It was even a harder watch as a Sixers fan. Joel Embiid and Paul George are undoubtedly huge absences, but Philadelphia should have put forth a much better effort against a Raptors team expected to be lottery-bound and missing four key regulars themselves on the evening. It has taken two games for all the good vibes and optimism surrounding this team to circle the drain. Here are the few bright spots from Philadelphia’s 115-107 loss to the Raptors.
Kelly Oubre Jr. – 28 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 4 turnovers
Oubre’s 28 points were a game-high, coming on an efficient 9-of-17 line from the field and 7-of-8 from the free throw line. You especially love the 3-of-6 mark from behind the arc, given the requisite floor spacing concerns bound to be brought about from a low-30s career shooter. Tonight, as disjointed as the Sixers offense was, I’d hate to think where it would have been without Oubre’s ability to both create something from nothing and find the seams as an off-ball cutter.
We saw the full arsenal, with Kelly hitting spot-up shots, stepbacks and driving floaters. So many times, it was Oubre jackhammering the left-handed dribble into the painted area and rising up for the bucket. He even had one beautiful lob find to teammate Andre Drummond.
