The 2020–2021 Toronto Raptors — Game 3

Written by Aaron Shah — 12/31/20

Game 3

Philadelphia 76ers

Last night, the Raptors went 0–3 for the first time since 2005. We came off an amazing season last year and it has been the complete opposite for the start of this one. We have lost to the Pelicans and the Spurs (two games that we should have won), and the Philadelphia 76ers (an equal team to us). This game was close but didn’t end the way we wanted to. Let’s get into it…

What we saw

On December 29th, 2020, the Raptors faced one of our biggest rivals, the Philadelphia 76ers. Last night, the game was extremely intense. At one point, I threw a stick at the wall. So let’s begin the game break-down.

The game began fairly equal for both teams. We started going back and forth until the Raps caught fire. We had Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, and Fred VanVleet hit some quick threes to give us an early lead. Mid-way through the first, we had a 6 point lead and we brought in both Alex Len and Stanley Johnson. This move surprised me because both of these players have played little to no minutes this season. One of the things that surprised me most about this was Stanley Johnson. He played 21 minutes and scored 7 points, grabbed 8 boards, and got 2 steals. Most Raptor fans haven’t seen Johnson much but he put on a show. Another thing that I noticed is that the ball movement was extraordinary. Both teams were passing the ball around 4-5 times per possession. In fact, there was a 4-minute span where every point was scored off an assist. The quarter ended with a score of 28–17 Raptors, led by OG Anunoby with 8 points. The second quarter began like all the other Raptor games so far this season, both teams scoring without anyone gaining much of a lead. Raptors scored a lot of their second-quarter points early giving them a comfortable 12 point lead. After this, the 76ers dominated. They were scoring from everywhere and were locking up the Raptors on defence. They went on a 15–3 run in this quarter tying the game with a minute left in the half. Finally, the Raptors responded and finished the quarter on an 8 point run. The score at the half was 56–48 Raps. In the third, Seth Curry, brother of Steph Curry, came to play. He scored 9 points in the third with 5 of them in the first four minutes of the quarter. Tobias Harris also showed up scoring 9 points. Our 8 point lead that we had to begin the quarter was short-lived with the game being tied to end the period. In the fourth, both teams went into beast mode. Players were scoring from all over the floor. As the game advanced, it felt like the refs missed a lot of calls that would have helped the Raptors. In the final moments of the game, the 76ers made a few key shots and the Raptors couldn’t, resulting in our season continuing to be winless.

What we learned

For the first time since 2005, the Raptors have gone 0–3 to begin a season. I understand us losing a close game to the 76ers but the other 2 L’s are unacceptable. We came off one of the franchise’s best records to losing to two mediocre teams. Like I have stated in the last few articles, the Raptors need more consistency from our big men, especially on the defensive end. Last year, the Raptors went 3–1 against the 76ers in the regular season. One of the main reasons was Marc Gasol. Marc was unstoppable on defence and didn’t let anyone get past him. He was the reason that in that 2019 finals run, we got past Embiid and Giannis. Even last season, he stopped many bigs like Anthony Davis, Nikola Jokic, Andre Drummond and more. Now that Gasol is gone, we have tried to replace him with Aron Baynes who’s good on offence but doesn’t have the same defensive impact. Since we didn’t have a strong, defensive big, Joel Embiid scored 29 points and led his team to a victory. Another thing that I learned is that we need a stronger bench. In this game, our bench scored a total of 19 points. We didn’t have anyone off the bench score major points which contributed to our loss. If we want to contend, we need players like Matt Thomas, Chris Boucher, Alex Len, and especially Norm Powell to score more consistently. The final thing I want to talk about is Chris Boucher. Like I wrote in the last article, I talked about how Boucher’s slim build has disadvantages. Well in this game, that statement proved me correct. He wasn’t able to play much because he would have just been bullied by Embiid and Dwight Howard. This isn’t good at all because we will need to play teams with really great big guys such as the Lakers, Nuggets, Pelicans, Jazz and more. And when these games come, Boucher may not be able to play much. I think that if he wants to succeed on our team and as a player, he will need to learn how to use his speed and height to his advantage.

My game MVP

The Toronto Raptors wound up losing their third straight game and for one main reason: Joel Embiid. Ever since day 1, Embiid has been torturing teams with his combination of height, strength, and speed. He has grown to be one of the best centers, nay players in the league with his inside game, his smooth jumper, and his dedication on the defensive side. All these things that he is known for, he incorporated in his massive game against the Raptors last night. He scored a total of 29 points, 16 boards, 2 blocks, 2 steals, and 4 assists. Not only did he have a ridiculous stat line, but was super clutch scoring some very important shots to finish the game. The Cameroonian is still very young and has so much potential in this league. He will probably lead this team to a championship if he keeps improving at the pace he has for the past few seasons. That’s why I have decided to make Joel Embiid my game MVP.

Marquee Matchup

In last night’s game, there were so many matchups I could’ve done; Embiid — Pascal, OG — Tobias Harris, VanVleet — Curry, but I have decided to do Kyle Lowry and Ben Simmons. In last night’s game, both players went right at it. Kyle scored 24 points, got 8 rebounds, and 9 assists while Simmons got 11 points, 13 rebounds, and 7 assists. Both players were close to getting a triple-double but fell just short. Both players were crucial to their team and helped their squad as much as they could. Ben didn’t do great on the offensive side but made up for it on D. He got a ton of boards along with a steal and a block. The 6 time All-Star in Lowry did great last night. He got a season-high in points and was able to lead the offence like he did last season. So even though Ben’s team won, I think that Lowry won the Matchup.

Conclusion

In my opinion, the Raptors haven’t been playing to their full potential. The players aren’t clicking, we’re giving opponents open shots, and we have been blowing leads - in fact, the Raptors are the first team in NBA history to blow a double digit lead in the first three games of the season. The Raptors are a great team but they need to pick it up. Like Kyle Lowry said, “We’re 0–3 and we need a win really, really, really bad, and I feel like we’re getting that point where it’s a must-win. We’ve gotta do everything we possibly can to win the next game”. Our next game is on new years eve against the New York Knicks. The Knicks aren’t a great team and we have no excuse to lose this game. The Raptors have the potential to be a top seed in the East but we need to start winning some games. Thank you for reading and let’s go Raptors!!!