PHILADELPHIA — Danny Green said the 76ers were not in panic mode.
Yes, they were coming off a humbling lopsided loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. But he said they showed both good signs and bad signs this season.
“We’re going to learn from those bad habits and change them,” Green said Tuesday morning. “I think we’re where we’re supposed to be right now. It’s still early in the game, behind some teams and ahead of some teams.
“But we’ll figure it out.”
Everything wasn’t figured out for Tuesday night’s game at the Wells Fargo Center. But Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris led the Sixers to a 100-93 victory over the Toronto Raptors.
Despite the win, the Sixers could have been in trouble had Embiid remained sidelined for a second consecutive game.
The Sixers looked lost and were dominated in all phases in Sunday’s 24-point loss to the Cavaliers as Embiid was sidelined with back tightness. On Tuesday, his play kept them competitive against the Raptors as the Sixers couldn’t make shots or defend. That’s a bad combination.
The Sixers shot 32 for 84, including 8 of 31 on 3-pointers. Defensively, they surrendered a lot of wide-open 3-pointers. Taking advantage, the Raptors made 17 of 45 3s.
But Embiid had 29 points, 16 rebounds, fur assists, two steals, and two blocks. A chunk of his points came from the foul line, where he made 14 of 16 attempts. He went 11 for 11 at the line in the first half, becoming the first Sixer to do since Allen Iverson went 12 for 12 in April 2006.
The Sixers, however, got a scare with 8 minutes, 2 seconds left in the third quarter.
That’s when the big man turned the ball over in the high post, stayed on the floor for a while and appeared to grab the back of his leg. He got up on his own power and headed to the locker room. After being checked out, he went into the game with 4:01 left in the quarter. At one point in the fourth quarter, Embiid was stretched out near the Sixers bench before re-entering the game.
Harris was Robin to Embiid’s Batman on this night. The power forward turned in his third straight solid game, finishing with 26 and 11 rebounds. His pair of foul shots with 25.6 seconds left gave them a 98-91 lead.
The Raptors (0-3) were looked upon as a barometer for where the Sixers (3-1) stood. Even though Toronto remains winless, the squad is expected to finish as one of the Eastern Conference’s elite teams. The Raptors have two All-Stars in Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam. They also have a budding star in Fred VanVleet.
Toronto, which has relocated in Tampa, Fla., this season, did lose Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka in free agency. However, they have a stable of solid contributors to go play alongside Lowry, Siakam amd VanVleet.
This was the first of three meetings against the Raptors during the first half of the season for the Sixers.
“It’s funny, and just being honest, the first I did [looking] at the schedule and saw Toronto that early, I didn’t love to see that,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said before the game. “They’ve been together for 100 years. They can call out plays from five years ago, and probably run it. We can’t do that. So [it is] probably not the team you want to see early, because they have been continuity.
“But it is what it is.”
Rivers told his guys "So what? Let’s win."
The coach realizes Embiid is a luxury in an era when dominant big men are rare.
“The one thing bigs have always been, even In these days of ‘no bigs,’ they are run stoppers,” Rivers said. “They are just amazing, that you can come out of a timeout and say just throw it down there. What we are trying to get Joel to see, and I think he is getting it, just because we throw to him doesn’t mean he will be the scorer. But the team will benefit because he is so darn good.”
Embiid scores and gets fouled when teams don’t trap him. When they trap him, he creates action for teammates.
“And what we are showing the whole team is that is good either way,” Rivers said, “because the objective is to score.”
Ben Simmons finished with 11 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists. However, he made just 3 of 11 shots. Simmons also scored just three points after intermission.
He must be more balanced in attacking and facilitating for the Sixers to be successful. That’s something he has struggled with. Though he’s a three-time All-Star who made third-team All-NBA last season, people have questioned if he’s actually a point guard. Former coach Brett Brown even moved him to power forward during the NBA restart in July,
“I don’t call Ben a point. I just call him a really good basketball player,” Rivers said. “Having said that, he does have the ball in his hand more. ... We have to be patient with that.
“On the nights he does it well, you obviously see it. On the nights he doesn’t do it well, you probably obviously see it. And that is really my job to give him the balance.”
The coach feels he has to do a better job calling sets that Simmons is comfortable with early. Rivers wants him to stay engaged and think about every play.
Matisse Thybulle was the second player off the bench Tuesday night. Rivers is giving the second-year guard more playing time with Furkan Korkamz sidelined with strained left groin. He had one rebound in 12 minutes of action after playing a combined 15 minutes in the first three games.
