Game Thread: Toronto Raptors @ Philadelphia 76ers

The Raptors continue their search for win number one tonight with a pit stop in Philadelphia to take on the 2-1 Sixers. Philly’s always tough, and after an off-season of swapping deck chairs around, they boast a roster that actually makes sense. Of course, the Raptors have had their way with the Sixers plenty over the last few years. But it remains to be seen how much more challenging a match-up it’ll be for Toronto with Marc Gasol no longer around to batter Joel Embiid, who you may remember scored 0 points in a whole ass NBA game against Gasol and the Raps early last season.

Aron Baynes is a tank, but whether he’s the kind of tank that can withstand and hold back Embiid’s post-up work will be among the key storylines to keep an eye on tonight. In fact, how the entire Raptors defense performs will be the thing to watch. It’s been, to be frank, a tire fire for the Raptors on that end of the floor through two games. Some of it is surely bad luck; the lack of pre-season runway to build chemistry around an entire new center rotation deserves a lot of blame, too. But for the Raptors to continue their run of being good to great, the defense will need to snap back to its top-5 status of last season — preferably sooner rather than later.

For the full preview of tonight’s game, check out Mitch Orsatti’s preview right here. Enjoy!

Where to Watch

Sportsnet, 7:00pm EST

Lineups

Toronto — Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam, Aron Baynes

Philly — Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Danny Green, Tobias Harris, Joel Embiid

Injuries

Toronto — Patrick McCaw (knee — out)

Philly — Joel Embiid (back — probable), Furkan Korkmaz (groin — out)