The Philadelphia 76ers aim to build on the momentum of winning five of their past six games when they visit the injury-riddled Toronto Raptors on Sunday to open a two-game set.
The teams, who split the first two games of the season series at Philadelphia, play again in Toronto on Monday.
The 76ers are coming off a 103-91 road victory over the Orlando Magic on Friday, while the Raptors had a three-game winning streak snapped with a 125-117 road loss to the Boston Celtics.
The Raptors will be taking an anxious look at their mounting injury list entering the two-game set.
They were without Scottie Barnes (sprained knee) and Brandon Ingram (sprained thumb) against Boston, who are questionable for Sunday. During the fourth quarter Friday, RJ Barrett left after turning an ankle and finished with 19 points. X-rays were negative but he will not play Sunday. Jakob Poeltl (back strain) remains out but could return Monday.
“There’s going to be an opportunity for players that are out of rotation, or not playing, to get a good chance,” coach Darko Rajakovic said before Friday’s game.
The short-handed Raptors played well, overcoming a 20-point deficit to pull within five in the fourth quarter.
“I’m not very satisfied with how we started the game, I thought we allowed some very easy points in transition and open shots,” Rajakovic said. “But outside the first five minutes, I thought we really competed.”
Ja’Kobe Walter took advantage of a starting role to score 19 points and was 5-for-9 from 3-point range.
“At shootaround, (Ingram) told me I have to take more 3s,” Walter said. “He said he was watching me shoot and thinks I’ve been passing up a lot of shots. So I had that mindset coming in. Having a vet tell you that, you have to listen if he sees something, and the shots were just falling.”
Immanuel Quickley added 17 points and 13 assists despite often being double-teamed.
In their win at Orlando, the 76ers had 29 points from Tyrese Maxey, 22 from Joel Embiid and 18 from Paul George, who also had nine rebounds, two blocked shots and three steals. George scored 10 points in the fourth quarter.
“(George) was really good in the fourth,” Maxey said. “Really good. He played defense all game. Then in the fourth, he made shots.”
The 76ers had nine rebounds each from four players – George, Embiid, Dominick Barlow and rookie VJ Edgecombe – to build a 52-42 advantage over the Magic.
They could again have the edge in that department against the Raptors, who were outrebounded 40-31 at Boston.
Edgecombe continued to impress. He was held to six points Friday but had two steals and led the team with seven assists.
“I think the single biggest thing is that he does a little bit of everything, but his composure and maturity for a young player are really way up there,” Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse said. “He just really handles all situations really, really well, like a guy that has been in the league for 10 years or something, which is super interesting to see, but it is also really good to see for our team.”
Edgecombe has impressed George, who said: “A lot has been thrown at him, and he has been producing. He has been clutch in big moments. He has made big plays after big plays, both offensively and defensively.”
