Sixers win another tank-off with a wire-to-wire loss to the Raptors

The Sixers showed enough fight for the game to not get out of hand but they successfully lost to the tanking Raptors Sunday.

The lottery standings improved. Everyone gets free chicken. Win-win.

In a crucial matchup in the tanking race, the Sixers dropped their eighth in a row, losing to the Toronto Raptors 127-109 Sunday night.

Starting in his second game here, Lonnie Walker IV led the Sixers with 23 points and seven assists, shooting 10-of-18 from the field. Jalen Hood-Schifino went for 18. Ricky Council IV went for 17 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Justin Edwards had only 12 points on 6-of-17 shooting.

R.J. Barrett led all scorers with 31.

Guerschon Yabusele (knee soreness), Quentin Grimes (rest) and Jeff Dowtin Jr. (running out of two-way days) were out for Philly. The Raptors rested Immanuel Quickley and Jakob Poeltl while also being down Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick.

Because of this game’s stakes, the old recap format is back for one night only.

Here are some thoughts from the Center.

First Quarter

• It was Jared Butler and Walker who opened the scoring with a few drives to the basket. They were each able to sneak in dump-offs in traffic to Adem Bona which turned into points. Unlike Toronto though, their first 12 points came either in the paint or at the free throw line as they couldn’t buy a jumper.
• Naturally it was Council who got the team on the board from deep. He easily got to the rim on the following possession by pushing the pace — something he should be doing all the time in these types of games.
• Perhaps he needed another 24 hours to kick that illness, because Jalen Hood-Schifino looked considerably better than the night before when he could hardly get the ball inbounds. He opened up with a couple jumpers including a three to pull the Sixers within one as the quarter closed.

Second Quarter

• A good way to summarize this game was the Sixers starting this quarter 1-of-7 from the field and the Raptors hardly being able to expand their lead. While Bona was off to a good start defensively, he had trouble taking care of the ball with four early turnovers, including just crossing the baseline on an inbound. He was far from the only one in the half to sail a pass a few rows deep into the crowd though.
• Council went through another stretch of attacking the basket, including one of his signature transition dunks. Everyone else continued to have a lid on the rim though as Toronto took their first double-digit lead of the night.

• Everyone who isn’t a “IV” that is, as Walker ripped off a handful of jumpers he got to fall. He also scooted his way for a nice up-and-under layup but he just left it short. The comedy of errors continued though as they got caught for an eight-second violation despite the Raptors getting back after a made basket. The Sixers trailed by 14 at the break.

Third Quarter

• The first was definitely Edwards’ worst halves in quite some time, going just 2-of-7 from the field, one of those being a putback. It continued to trend in that direction as his first shot of the second half was emphatically blocked. There was finally another positive though as the bricken’-for-chicken promotion hit for the second time in the last three games.
• After the Raptors had pushed their lead out to 20, the Sixers actually showed some fight by ripping off a 13-1 run to bring them back. Walker knocked down a few more jumpers, and continued to look for dump offs to Bona often as well.

• Hood-Schifino was able to tack on a few more points as they tried to claw back, but that momentum begun to swing the other way when he got stripped in the backcourt. The Raptors had a 13-point lead after three.

Fourth Quarter

• He did struggle with turnovers early, but Bona continued to stuff up his stat sheet to finish with a solid night. He picked up his fourth block of the night early in the quarter. For someone who came into the league as raw as he was, he’s had quite a lot of efficient scoring nights, even for a big. He finished this game with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
• Neither of them can really put the ball in the basket, but it’s been fun watching Marcus Bagley and Phillip Wheeler fly around the court the past few games. Bagley blocked another three-point attempt after swatting two against the Heat. Wheeler went for another big windmill that he threw off the back of the rim.
• In other tank news, the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Charlotte Hornets 98-94, putting them just two games “behind” the Sixers. It’ll still be hard to pass them with just seven games left, but the higher Philly can climb up the reverse standings, the better.
• The Sixers will take a train for one for their few remaining road games as they’ll take on the New York Knicks Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. ET at MSG.