Feb 11, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Jared Butler (12) controls the ball against the Toronto Raptors in the second quarter at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
Joel Embiid committed a horrendous turnover in the guts of the game. Tyrese Maxey went silent for most of the night. The Sixers lost yet another winnable game to an undermanned team.
Here's what I saw.
- Jared Butler gets the lone gold star of the first half. Eight points, three rebounds and two assists in eight minutes is unremarkable, but it's his natural style that drew these eyes. He plays the game with tempo, something that Kyle Lowry can't do any more and Reggie Jackson never tried to do. Before the trade deadline, the Sixers were wasting away shot clock time when Tyrese Maxey was off the floor, Jackson or another ball-handler dribbling the air out of the ball with no plan.
Insert Butler, and it's like you're watching a different sport in those minutes without Maxey than you were prior to the deadline. There is a clear skill for him to get to when he leverages his pace, and he guards the ball with real effort. There was a Toronto possession in the first half in which the ball did not get to Scottie Barnes until there were 10 seconds left on the shot clock because Butler pushed up and made the Raptor bringing it up the floor work to do so.
- I suppose I'll give Embiid a little credit for dominating the glass. He led everyone in rebounding for the game, taking advantage of a severely undersized Raptors team to end possessions when the ball came down in his vicinity.
- Stop me if you've heard this before, but the Sixers came out with virtually no juice. They gave up 14 points a little more than three minutes into the game. Toronto was down Brandon Ingram, RJ Barrett and Jakob Poeltl. That's unacceptable.
There are two ways to interpret this team's lack of urgency coming out of the gate. Both are very bad. They either operate with an arrogance that they have not earned, playing as if they can simply show up and opponents will bow down, or they're checked out at tip-off.
Either way, fellas, you are 12 games below .500. There's more than one reason why fans in attendance are bellowing Eagles chants while you play, and only one of them is that the Birds are fresh off a Lombardi. It's that that team is emblematic of the professional effort and respect for representing Philadelphia that the locals demand. Whether the Eagles had won or lost on Sunday, they played their sport in a way that gave fans something to be proud of. The Sixers could learn a thing or two.
Toronto is a bad team, but so are the Sixers. They took advantage of everything the Sixers did on defense. Barnes made light work of the first quarter, beating Philadelphia over the head with isolations and then sprinting backdoor for a dunk while the Sixers slept on defense.
- You can see the disconnects on defense playing out in real time with this team. There were countless Raptors possessions in which one Sixer was in the wrong scheme, leaving the corner shooter open a skip pass away on the weak side. I get there are new pieces in the rotation. But, it's so egregious that you can't help but wonder where heads are. It begs the question, are these growing pains with integrating new guys or are guys just checked out?
- This was Tyrese Maxey's most bizarre game of the season thus far. He's shredded Toronto throughout his career, but inexplicably had just three shots by halftime. He didn't get on the board until sometime in the third quarter, earning his way to the charity stripe. It was especially inexplicable given that he's been one of the most dominant guards in the east over the past handful of weeks. He made an effort to get downhill and create drive-and-kick opportunities, but was ultra passive otherwise.
- The Sixers have played three extremely uninspiring basketball games since Daryl Morey said that the organization still believes that something special can happen this season. He prefaced it by saying that it required some squinting to see the vision, but that there was a vision to be seen. The thing is, that requires everyone wanting to do something special. This team is not playing as if it wants something special to happen, though.
The Sixers (20-33) will visit the Brooklyn Nets (19-34) on Wednesday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., Eastern time. You can watch the game on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
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