PHILADELPHIA _ 76ers coach Brett Brown studies the growth of teams that were in similar situations to his.
He believes the Boston Celtics are two or three seasons ahead of his squad. The Milwaukee Bucks and Minnesota are "a few years" ahead the Sixers, he said.
"This program will be about five years ahead of us," Brown said of the Toronto Raptors before facing them Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
The 17,233 in attendance might swear that the Sixers will get their sooner than that.
The Sixers defeated the Raptors, 94-89, to post their seventh victory in nine games. In the process, they snapped a 14-game losing streak to the Raptors (28-13). The last time the Sixers beat Toronto was Jan. 18, 2013.
Toronto lost to the Sixers for the first time in five games this season.
Joel Embiid was a major reason the Sixers (14-26) were able to upset the Eastern Conference's second-best team.
The 7-foot-2, 270-pound center scored his team's final four points and had clutch block with 22.9 seconds left. Embiid finished with a game-high 26 points, scoring 20 or more points for the 10th straight game. The rookie added nine rebounds, two assists, one steal and two blocked shots.
Ersan Ilyasova (18 points), T.J. McConnell (10) and Robert Covington (10) were the Sixers' other double-digit scorers.
Embiid, Covington, and McConnell all made big plays down the stretch.
Embiid hit a pair foul shots to knot the score at 86 with 1 minute, 42 seconds left. McConnell gave the Sixers a two-point lead with a layup on the next possession.
McConnell added a pair of foul shots to give the Sixers a 90-86 advantage with 35.2 seconds remaining. Following a Raptors timeout, Covington blocked Kyle Lowry's three-point attempt with 30.1. The Raptors point guard grabbed the rebound before driving the lane. But the former Villanova and Cardinal Dougherty standout's layup was blocked by Embiid with 22.9 seconds left.
The center grabbed the rebound and was fouled by Lowry, who fouled out on the play.
Embiid made both foul shots to put the Sixers up 92-86 with 20.7 seconds left. Then he hit a pair with 3.7 seconds remaining to ice it.
Lowry, a two-time NBA All-Star, finished with 24 points and four assists. Raptors shooting guard DeMar DeRozan finished with a team-high 25 points. Fourteen of the two-time All-Star's points came in the fourth quarter. Jonas Valanciunas added 10 points and a game-high 16 rebounds.
