5 Things: Inconsistent Raptors have no answers for 76ers' Embiid

Here are five takeaways from the Toronto Raptors' 114-99 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday.

1. The story of this game was the dominance of Joel Embiid on both ends of the floor. Similar to their matchup last week, the Raptors tried to defend the reigning MVP with a combination of Jakob Poeltl's size and some late help defecse at the rim but Embiid was simply too clever.

Poeltl buckled on more than a few occasions against Embiid's nimble-yet-stumbling footwork, and the secondary defence was often too late to draw fouls, or too obvious to free cutters such as when Embiid threw a blind pass over his head for a Nikola Jokic-esque dime.

Embiid's figure was even larger on defence, where he single-handedly prevented the Raptors from getting to the basket. In typical Nick Nurse fashion, Philadelphia stacked multiple layers of defenders to guard the paint, but Embiid was the final boss waiting at all times to swat away attempts.

That left no room for Pascal Siakam to operate, as even if he beat the first group of defenders there was always Embiid to deny his best attempts to drive, including a spectacular block on Siakam's two-handed dunk.

The Raptors would occasionally slip free and catch Embiid slipping, but overall he was too much to handle -- just like in almost every matchup since Marc Gasol's departure in 2020.

2. Scottie Barnes started the game on an absolute tear.

In the opening five minutes, Barnes drilled two threes, set up OG Anunoby for a corner triple, drove downhill for a layup, drew a foul on another drive, and side-stepped two Sixers before finishing a sweeping hook over Embiid's contest at the rim. He directly created the first 15 points, and while he couldn't sustain his torrid start, it was a continuation of his ascension on the season.

There is still a question of how to best deploy Barnes, who couldn't lift the bench-heavy combinations that Darko Rajakovic asked of him, but neither could Siakam or any other starter. In the bigger picture, Barnes' rise to becoming a leader and an all-star-level player is the most important plot of the season.

Aside from the occasional ankle roll, Barnes continues to make the most of the green light entrusted to him. Barnes finished with 24 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists, while also taking on a number of difficult defensive assignments.  

3. Toronto continues to get very little from the second unit.

Like many other coaches around the league, Rajakovic has extended his rotation to give players a chance in the first month of the year, but the Raptors reserves continue to underwhelm.

The case of Gary Trent Jr. is downright strange, as he continues to misfire and look unsure in the offence. He is shooting under 50 per cent from the foul line despite being an 82-per-cent shooter overall, and airballed an open catch-and-shoot three in the first quarter on top of flubbing several transition layups in previous games.

Odds are that Trent Jr. will level out given his strong track record, but the bigger disappointment is the focus of the supporting pieces.

Defensive rebounding and turnovers are recurring problems for the bench, who seem to always come up second in all matters to do with physicality. Chris Boucher dropped a couple of easy chances around the basket and slumped his shoulders after not receiving passes on a pair of his cuts.

Gradey Dick couldn't run his routes to the ball without his defender jumping in from behind for steals and deflections. Malachi Flynn was practically bullied by Patrick Beverley, who summed up the Raptors rudely -- if not succinctly -- by saying yet again that the Raptors have "no dogs" on the team.

The physicality of Precious Achiuwa and Christian Koloko, and the veteran savvy of Otto Porter Jr. are missed, but even still they need far more production in all regards from their reserve guards.

4. The early returns on Rajakovic's approach are promising, even if the results aren't fully there.

On defence, the Raptors have overhauled their hyper-aggressive approach, cut off corner threes and contested paint touches, to mostly leave opponents with jumpers from the top. Philadelphia has the exact weapons -- a battering ram in Embiid, and an explosive guard in Tyrese Maxey -- to punish their weaknesses, but the scheme should work great against most opponents.

Rajakovic has also shown a willingness to innovate: He changed coverages on Maxey by slotting Anunoby on him, and also by having Dennis Schroder force him off the three-point line, while closing with a smallball lineup against Embiid without Poeltl to match for size.

On the other side, Toronto has gone from being one of the most basic and conservative offences to a team that is so willing to pass that they even strung together a sequence where four players turned down open looks. It eventually led to a turnover, but the passing has led to open looks and a more creative attack.

With more time to settle into their new strategies, and a stronger bench, the wins should follow.

5. Siakam remains inconsistent as he transitions into more of a secondary role.

He is receiving 14 fewer touches per game (66.0 vs. 80.4) and is not being set up to score as prominently as last season, which is somewhat by design.

Rajakovic doesn't want as much one-on-one play, and is more fond of creating offence off movement than with the dribble, both of which became customary and comfortable to Siakam in his lead role previously.

But the goal is to re-contextualize and hopefully improve Siakam, rather than to limit his influence, and in that regard he needs to show more in areas that he is capable of.

One, his catch-and-shoot threes will be a vital part of his game, and he tends to run hot and cold (five threes vs. Milwaukee, zero against Philadelphia).

Two, there is more of an ask on the defensive end, where Siakam has been diligent in showing help and making the right rotations, but his man-to-man coverage on Tobias Harris was lacking and he can still be guilty of overhelping off shooters, which is a lingering habit from playing under Nurse.

Three, Siakam is being asked to be more of a downhill threat to create paint touches, which will require him to be stronger with the ball as he goes to drive. Similar to how he was stripped by Alex Caruso, Siakam was picked off by Maxey on a drive from the perimeter.

These will be the make-or-break parts of his game that will determine his fit long-term.