Fresh off their most exciting win of the season, the Toronto Raptors now find themselves in first place in the Atlantic Division.
The surging Raptors aim for their fifth straight victory Wednesday when they visit Tyrese Maxey and the Philadelphia 76ers.
Toronto enters Wednesday’s action a half-game ahead of the 76ers and the New York Knicks in the division and in third place in the Eastern Conference. The Raptors endured a four-game losing streak earlier in this season, but have since won eight of their last nine games.
Most recently, the Raptors nipped the Charlotte Hornets 110-108 on Monday. RJ Barrett scored the decisive bucket with 18 seconds left, and Brandon Ingram and Scottie Barnes each notched a key block in the waning seconds.
“This is good for us. This is going to be a very good film for us to watch,” Toronto coach Darko Rajakovic said. “I thought that we did some extraordinary things there down the stretch — rim protection, blocking shots, coming up with some important rebounds. It’s going to be good film for us to learn how we can close the game and better execute there.”
Ingram led the team with 27 points against Charlotte and is averaging a team-high 20.9 points on the season. Barnes (19.4) and Barrett (19.1) aren’t far behind among scoring leaders for the Raptors, who have missed the playoffs in each of the last three seasons.
“It’s great that we’re winning games, but (we need to) keep staying humble, keep staying hungry. It’s only the beginning of the season,” Barnes said. “But you know, we’re really good, we’re really talented.”
The only game Toronto dropped in its last nine contests was a 130-120 loss at Philadelphia on Nov. 8. Maxey led Philadelphia with 31 points that night, while Trendon Watford collected 20 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists.
Immanuel Quickley and Barrett each scored 22 points to pace the Raptors, who led 43-33 after one quarter before getting outscored by 20 the rest of the way.
The Sixers played that first matchup without Paul George (knee), who finally made his season debut Monday in a 110-108 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The veteran forward logged 21 minutes and finished with nine points on 2-of-9 shooting.
“It felt great to finally play basketball again,” George said. “It had been like eight months since I’d played. It was a long journey. Lots of ups and downs, lots of hiccups, but it felt good to finally get out there. … Rusty, but I felt good.”
Maxey scored a game-high 39 points for Philadelphia, increasing his scoring average to 32.5 points. He is carrying a heavy load for the Sixers, playing 40.4 minutes per game, but the team has needed him to step up with George and Joel Embiid battling knee injuries.
“I’m always going to stay in attack mode because that’s what we need for this team,” Maxey said. “And not just for myself, but getting downhill and creating scoring opportunities for others as well.”
Embiid is averaging 19.7 points in 23.3 minutes per game, but he has not played since the win over Toronto, missing the last four games.
In his place, Andre Drummond continues to step up. The veteran center has notched four straight double-doubles, including a 14-point, 18-rebound effort against the Clippers.
