Kawhi Leonard Dominant as Raptors Rout Ben Simmons, 76ers
The Toronto Raptors lost their first game of the season Monday night with Kawhi Leonard on the bench.
Leonard was back Tuesday. So were the unstoppable Raptors.
Leonard scored 31 points to lead six Raptors in double figures in a 129-112 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Toronto shot 51.1 percent and forced 23 turnovers by the Sixers, who looked listless on both ends of the floor. Kyle Lowry added 20 points and 12 assists, while Pascal Siakam had a 15-point, 15-rebound double-double.
Joel Embiid led the way for Philadelphia with 31 points and 11 rebounds. Ben Simmons finished with 11 points, eight rebounds, 10 assists and 11 turnovers in a disappointing performance.
Sixers Need to End Fultz-Simmons Starting Lineup Experiment
It just isn't working.
The Sixers weren't winning this game regardless of who was in the starting lineup, but they're shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly by starting Markelle Fultz alongside Simmons.
Fultz has occasionally shown flashes of brilliance, and keeping him in the starting five is a long-term play. He clearly has some confidence issues, so naming him a starter was a nice gesture in theory.
In practice, it's been a disaster.
Simmons can't and doesn't shoot. Fultz has been a somewhat willing but mostly incapable shooter. Embiid thinks he's a better shooter than he is. As this season has underscored, shooting matters more than ever.
The Sixers' best stretch of the game came early in the fourth quarter with JJ Redick playing with the starters.
Head coach Brett Brown needs to put Redick back in the starting five and give Fultz the reins of the second unit. If Fultz doesn't handle the demotion well, that's more telling than anyone in the Sixers organization would care to admit.
Sixers, Raptors Not Currently in Same Stratosphere
The East conversation coming into the season was "Raptors, Celtics, Sixers" in some order.
The actual East conversation at the moment is "Raptors...and kind of Celtics."
Toronto is the best team in the conference by a significant margin, and the Sixers aren't even on the margins right now. They've dropped all four of their road games, have a starting backcourt with next to no chemistry and are hoping Wilson Chandler's return brings them together.
The Sixers sorely miss Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova off the bench. They don't appear to be having as much fun as they did last season, when they were the darling finally realizing the full potential of The Process. Instead, they're an above-average team that figures to compete with the Milwaukee Bucks for the No. 3 seed in the East.
The Raptors are the NBA's best team outside of the Bay Area.
The chasm here is wider than even the biggest Raptors optimist expected.
Kyle Lowry Is East's Best PG Right Now
Kyrie Irving has been a mess as he returns from his knee injury. John Wall's team is falling apart. Simmons can't shoot. Kemba Walker has had some bonkers shooting nights, but Lowry's two-way play—in particular his passing—has been sensational this season.
Lowry was clearly unhappy about the Raptors trading DeMar DeRozan for Leonard. He still does their old pregame handshake routine without his friend and former teammate.
But Lowry is playing the best basketball of his career, and Leonard is a big reason why. Defenses respect Leonard's shooting more than they ever did with DeRozan. The Raptors' floor spacing is better than it's been as a result, and first-year head coach Nick Nurse has made lineup and schematic adjustments Dwane Casey never pulled off.
Lowry has double-digit assists in six straight games, which is double the longest streak of his career prior to this year. It's exceedingly rare for a 6'1" point guard without elite athleticism to reach his peak at the age of 32, but that's what Lowry has done. He's been sensational on both ends of the floor, and barring injury, it looks like the Raptors should capture the No. 1 seed in the East.
We're still a long ways away from the playoffs, but it bears watching whether Leonard will help Lowry with the white-hot spotlight come April and May.
What's Next?
The Sixers host the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday. The Raptors start a four-game road trip in Phoenix on Friday.
