The Sixers brought back their black jerseys and returned to winning ways Saturday night.
The team earned a 130-120 victory over the Raptors at Xfinity Mobile Arena in the debut of its throwback uniforms honoring the 2000-01 Eastern Conference champion team.
The Sixers now sit at 6-3. Toronto is 5-5.
Six Sixers scored in double figures. Trendon Watford recorded his first career triple-double with a tremendous performance, putting up 20 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists. Tyrese Maxey had 31 points and seven assists. Joel Embiid tallied 29 points in 26 minutes.
The Sixers remained without Paul George (left knee surgery recovery) and Dominick Barlow (right elbow laceration). Johni Broome was unavailable because of a right ankle sprain.
The Sixers will host the Pistons on Sunday night. Here are observations on their win over the Raptors:
Watford shines as starter
Watford made his first start as a Sixer and scored the team’s first basket on a slam assisted by VJ Edgecombe.
The Raptors and Immanuel Quickley were ultra-hot out of the gates. Toronto started 6 for 6 from floor and took a 15-7 lead on Quickley’s pull-up three-pointer..
The Sixers replied with a 13-0 run spurred by forced turnovers and open-floor attacks. Edgecombe and Maxey nabbed early steals. Watford jammed in a put-back dunk and assisted a Maxey corner three.
Watford had been excellent as a backup point guard Wednesday in the Sixers’ loss the Cavs. He was awfully strong as a very versatile starting forward against Toronto.
The Sixers ran tons of pitch actions with Watford on the court in the first quarter. Their perimeter players were often able to get a downhill head of steam off of both dribble handoffs and fake handoffs. Watford’s ability to read the defense and react sharply was a major help.
He posted 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting, three rebounds (two offensive) and two assists in the first period.
Stars lead Sixers’ push back
Despite that big run, the Sixers still had a rough overall start defensively. Toronto poured in 43 first-quarter points and had a 10-point advantage after 12 minutes.
The Raptors went up 51-37 early in the second quarter on a Ja’Kobe Walter corner three. They began a scorching 10 for 12 beyond the arc.
Ultimately, Toronto’s shooters cooled off and the Sixers’ defense was much better in the second quarter. Embiid also played good, aggressive basketball in his second stint. A Watford high-low feed set Embiid up for a layup that cut the Sixers’ deficit to two points. Eventually, a short jumper from Kelly Oubre Jr. (19 points) gave the Sixers a 58-56 edge.
With Embiid sitting, Maxey was stellar late in the second quarter. His lefty scoop layup with 1.9 seconds left in the first half put the Sixers up 68-63.
Saving Embiid for the home stretch
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse used five players off the bench. Surprisingly, Jared McCain was not among them. The second-year guard was available to play (with limited minutes) for the second time since returning from a right thumb UCL tear.
The Sixers’ starters had a few defensive lapses early in the third quarter. Brandon Ingram’s mid-range jumper knotted the game at 78-all.
Watford and Maxey then fueled a fantastic stretch. Both played zealous defense, hustling back into plays to contest and block shots. They were also in the middle of fluid, highly effective offense. Watford dished a between-the-legs assist to Maxey, whose three put the Sixers up 94-82.
The Sixers fared badly with Maxey out late in the third quarter. Edgecombe had his third consecutive subpar shooting game, going 5 for 15 from the floor. A Quickley runner early in the fourth trimmed the Raptors’ deficit to 102-101.
Although the Sixers made an immediate 7-0 run, Toronto hung around. Nurse saved Embiid for the final minutes, calling timeout and subbing him in with the Sixers up 119-116 and 3:16 to go.
The tide swiftly turned.
Edgecombe converted a driving layup, Oubre slammed in a second-chance dunk and Embiid tipped in his own miss. Handling Embiid’s minutes restriction is often tricky, but having him on the floor down the stretch tends to make plenty of sense.
