PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia 76ers were able to knock off the Toronto Raptors on Thursday by a score of 123-112 despite missing LeBron James on the night. The future Hall of Famer is dealing with lower back and sciatica issues so the Sixers gave him a night off to manage him for the future.
Tyrese Maxey had 27 points and eight assists while VJ Edgecombe added 15 points, eight assists, and eight rebounds. Jaylen Brown had 18 points and six rebounds, Joel Embiid had 20 points, four rebounds, and three assists, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 11 points, five assists, and four rebounds while Anfernee Simons added 17.
Here are the three biggest takeaways for the Sixers following the win:
Embiid finds his rhythm
After a miserable shooting stretch over his recent games,
Embiid went to work against Raptors big man Jakob Poeltl early and often. Embiid shot 7-for-17 from the floor and was 6-for-7 from the free-throw line as he was able to recover quickly from banging knees with Toronto guard Immanuel Quickley in the early part of the game when he left for the locker room briefly. After he returned, Embiid looked spry as he was able to get to the basket and find way to put up points in a hurry for Philadelphia's offense. He still struggled with his 3-point looks as he was 0-for-3 on those attempts, but the big fella was able to get to his mid-range shots and had some impressive moves in the post.
"I think he was aggressive," Maxey said of Embiid. "He was aggressive, man. He didn't think. You know what I'm saying? I think he's been thinking. Did he make a 3 tonight? He shot one? He got to his middy. You know what I’m saying? He’s just aggressive. And that’s good for him."
Edgecombe's playmaking
The second-year guard was able to step up and produce on a playmaking level for the Sixers in this one. Normally, Philadelphia will put the ball in James' hands and let him go to work, but with the brilliant forward out of the lineup, the Sixers turned to Edgecombe a bit more to take pressure off Maxey. The Raptors sent a lot of attention towards Maxey and wanted him to give the ball up. He did so to Edgecombe and the second-year guard was able to do what he does in an effort to get Philadelphia into its sets and allow the team to find that type of rhythm in order to combat Toronto's physicality.
Coach Nick Nurse stated on Edgecombe:
I think this is like the second time he's done this as well, when we're down somebody that he just comes out a little bit more lively and assertive, and I thought again he came out and again really think that he made some really decisive moves in the open floor, not necessarily break situations, but the flow is still going and he's punching through and again I thought he kicked out you know, a few of those, and even on, some of the the half court sets, he did not – like he just attacked aggressively to the paint, and that's where some of those assists were coming from. So, I just thought he did come with an extra pop, and he's done that a couple times now this year.
KCP and Simons coming up large
The Sixers needed somebody to step in and produce on the offensive end. The Raptors had gotten off to such a good start and Philadelphia was in search of a jolt of energy and somebody to knock down open 3s. Caldwell-Pope and Simons answered the call as they combined to shoot 8-for-11 from deep on the night. Throw in the playmaking Caldwell-Pope was able to produce and Simons knocking down timely 3s when the Sixers needed it, and it results in one helluva night for the bench unit as Philadelphia figures out chemistry, cohesion, and roles.
Nurse stated on both his second unit guards:
Yeah, this is at least the second time this has happened where we kind of come down and get a whole bunch of wide open threes and nobody makes one, and then they come in and kind of break the seal on the basket, and then we start playing. We start making a few more around the board, across the board. So that's huge. I think Ant, you know, kind of got it started. Both of them, I guess, right at the same time, kind of were alternating. But that I think sparked us energy wise. I mean, it gets tough. It gets tough for me to watch wide open three after wide open three not go in, and gets a little bit of energy draining and stuff like that. So it was a huge lift from that standpoint. And then on the other end, I thought KCP did a really good job of chesting and battling and keeping guys in front on the defensive end too.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: 3 biggest takeaways for Sixers following home win over Raptors
