Barrett, Quickley bounce back but Raptors fall short vs. 76ers

PHILADELPHIA — There's a key non-negotiable as the Toronto Raptors try to simultaneously weather a storm of injuries and their toughest stretch of the schedule so far this young season: 

RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley need to play well. 

That hasn’t always been the case with Kawhi Leonard (knee) out since before Oct. 25 and Scottie Barnes (left adductor) missing his fourth straight game Thursday night against the Philadelphia 76ers. 

For example, had Barrett and Quickley played even close to their level on Wednesday, the Raptors would have been well-positioned to pull off an upset win over the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Celtics. Instead, Barrett and Quickley combined to shoot 8-of-30 and were both on the wrong side of the plus-minus in a game the Raptors lost by five. 

The challenge was only tougher against the Sixers. This time, the Raptors were on the road on the second night of a back-to-back against a rested opponent sitting second in the Eastern Conference. 

They may have caught a break with LeBron James getting a night off for load management, but the Sixers were still rolling out all-NBA selections Jaylen Brown and Tyrese Maxey, supported by the up-and-coming VJ Edgecombe and Joel Embiid, who — while an athletic shell of his former MVP self — remains huge and skilled.

Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said he spoke with both Quickley and Barrett in the short turnaround between the Celtics loss and their date with the 76ers. 

“We talked about [it] and they responded,” said Rajakovic. “Those two guys are competitors; they’re winners. They’re going to do whatever it takes to help the team, and they bounced back tonight.”

But perhaps underscoring the pickle the Raptors are in right now, it wasn’t enough. 

The Raptors fell 123-112 to Philadelphia for their third straight loss and sixth in their past eight. They are 5-7 on the season and host the New York Knicks for two games at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday and Tuesday. 

Quickley and Barrett were — by any reasonable measure — brilliant. Barrett finished with a season-high 31 points on 13-of-20 shooting (4-of-7 from three) to go along with 14 rebounds, which was another season high and one of his career best. He had five assists too. 

Meanwhile, Quickley squeezed 26 points on 8-of-16 shooting and six assists without a turnover in 28 minutes while on a minutes restriction, playing his second straight game after missing a pair with a hamstring strain. 

What was missing this time around was more help from the supporting cast that was so good against Boston. Jamison Battle had 13 off the bench, but Ja’Kobe Walter, Jamal Shead and Allen Graves were a combined 3-of-17 after strong games against Boston. 

And defensively? The Sixers' talent comes in waves, but allowing teams to shoot 53.3 per cent from the floor and 43.3 per cent from deep will never be part of the Raptors' success formula, even if Toronto shot 47 per cent and 38 per cent in their own right. 

Quickley and Barrett were in the middle of most of the good things the Raptors managed against the Sixers, who improved to 10-3, leaving them a half-game behind Boston in the East.

The Raptors had another strong start and led 33-24 after the first quarter, in which neither Barrett nor Quickley missed a shot. 

Sixers used a 15-0 run to even the score early in the second quarter, but it was buckets by Barrett and Quickley that helped settle the waters. 

 Do they feel a special responsibility when Barnes and Leonard are out? 

“I mean, of course,” said Barrett. “But everybody has to step up, including us. Right now, it’s been tough. We just got to figure it out. I think we’re starting to now.”

Part of the challenge isn’t just who they are playing without, but who they’re playing against. Even with James out, the Sixers seemed to have all the elite talent necessary to put away a game against a tired, shorthanded opponent. 

The Sixers' best player is Maxey, and he seemed able to break out of the pack at will and get a bucket when the Sixers needed it. Raptors power forward Collin-Murray Boyles (14 points, five blocks) did a more than credible job guarding Brown, but he still shook loose for 18. Embiid started slowly, but once the big diesel got moving, he chipped in 20 points. Perhaps the biggest problem the Raptors faced was posed by the Sixers bench as Anfernee Simons and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope combined to make 8-of-11 from three. 

The Sixers used a 16-2 run bridging the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth to break open a tied game, but the Raptors still clawed back. 

But after a triple by Battle cut the Sixers' lead to six with 4:43 to play, threes by Simons and Caldwell-Pope down the stretch pushed the game back out of reach. 

There wasn't really much the Raptors could be mad about. Sure, 12 Raptors turnovers turning into 24 points for Philadelphia wasn’t ideal, and getting doubled on the offensive glass (11-6) isn’t part of the Raptors' game plan, but otherwise the teams were quite close. 

“We had fight, we had energy,” said Rajakovic. “I think this is a really good game for us.” 

But that doesn’t take away from the reality that these are the games the Raptors need to figure out how to win, regardless of who is in the lineup. Toronto is now 0-6 against playoff-level teams, with their other loss coming in their first NBA Cup game at home.

Winning against good teams was a problem for last year’s Raptors too. 

“Every team goes through this,” said Shead, who struggled offensively with just five points on 1-of-7 shooting to go along with five assists and two turnovers as he returned to a bench role upon Quickley’s return. “They click at the right time, or they click at a certain time, and everything makes sense. I think we’re waiting on that a little bit. No Scottie, no Kawhi, that hurts, but I think we still have enough without them.

“But RJ and Quick, they did a phenomenal job today, but we just got to help them… I think we can fix it though.” 

Three-point Grange: 

1.  More good Martin minutes: When Alijah Martin had the game of his NBA career last Friday — 27 points on 11-of-13 shooting in the Raptors win over Milwaukee — it was a great story and a nice moment. But more relevant to his future in the Raptors rotation was what he could do to play positive minutes in whatever opportunities he could get. So far, so good. Martin was effective against Boston on Wednesday, scoring 12 points in 16 minutes while going 4-of-5 from three and giving Celtics guard Payton Pritchard some problems, helping limit him to 14 points in 32 minutes. Martin was at it again against Philadelphia as he hit a corner three, scored a tough twisty lay-up in the first half and managed to keep Tyrese Maxey in front of him in 1-on-1 coverage more than once, which is no simple feat. He finished with seven points, four rebounds, a steal and a block in 18 minutes. 

2. Not here to reminisce: Former Raptors head coach and current 76ers bench boss Nick Nurse was asked if the presence of the Raptors brought back a flood of nostalgia from his 2018-19 championship run in Toronto. Not really. “I don't as much probably anymore, I think. Like anything, time goes by. But I was up at Kyle Lowry's golf outing late in the summer, and you go through everything there. You see all the guys, you see everybody, and you spend a good few days doing it. So no, not as much anymore. I really try to focus in on the task at hand and all that stuff … I don't know. Maybe someday I can sit around and think about the good old days. Hopefully.”

3. Tough crowd: At one point in the first half, the ball ended up stuck above the backboard on a missed shot, delaying the game. Raptors centre Jakob Poeltl came to the rescue and poked it free with a broom. It took him two tries, though, and the Sixers crowd booed. The same thing happened in the second quarter, and the referee offered the broom to Poeltl to help out again. Poeltl — who was on the bench at the time — declined, and he got booed for that too.