Despite a good game for the Sixers, the need for another ballhandler looms large | David Murphy

I don’t want to be That Guy, but I’m going to be, so let’s just get on with it. The 76ers won a game on Tuesday night, and, according to the scoreboard, they did it in impressive fashion. Four minutes into the proceedings, they took a one-point lead, and 44 minutes later that lead was still intact. When the final horn sounded, they had a 109-102 win, a 21-11 record, and an excellent shot at entering the All-Star break as the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

This was all well and good. Afterward, the Sixers saw plenty of positives, and they had every right to do so. They are a good basketball team, and Tuesday was a good day for the organization as a whole. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons had made the All-Star team. Tobias Harris didn’t but reminded everybody of his value by dropping a team-high 23 points.

All’s well that ends well, right?

Well, I’m not so sure. There’s no such thing as a bad win, especially when it comes on the road against a tough team like the Raptors. But there is such a thing as a win that reveals a team’s flaws, and this win was one of those. Two nights after the Raptors harassed Joel Embiid into one of his worst shooting nights of the season, they went out and did it again. They did it the same way they’ve done it throughout Nick Nurse’s tenure as head coach — with a physical, pressure defense anchored by an immovable big man and a steadfast refusal to switch into suboptimal matchups.

» READ MORE: Tobias Harris helps Sixers beat Raptors, 109-102, while Joel Embiid is held to three field goals

It’s a recipe that has spelled doom for the Sixers in each of the last three postseasons, and it’s one that is likely to confront them again at some point during this year’s playoffs. There are two obvious antidotes. The first is to capitalize on the open shots that an opponent is willing to yield in exchange for neutralizing Embiid. This was the path of least resistance for the Sixers on Tuesday night. They shot 17-of-38 from three-point range, sparked by a 16-point first quarter from Furkan Korkmaz. Shake Milton shot 3-for-6, Tobias Harris shot 3-for-4, and you barely even realized that Seth Curry did not play.

The question is whether the path of least resistance is a sustainable one. It’s difficult to lose a game when you shoot 45% from deep, particularly when your opponent shoots under 30%, but the Sixers took an impressive stab at accomplishing the feat. Leading by 17 points with 1:48 remaining, they saw somehow found themselves up just 106-100 with 21.6 seconds left.

On a couple of different fronts, the Sixers’ near-collapse was the latest reminder of their longest-standing shortcoming. The Raptors’ rally down the stretch was aided by a couple of inexcusable turnovers, but it was the fact that they were even within rallying distance that underscored the Sixers’ need for another dribble-drive scorer. After exploding for 37 points in the first quarter, they should have been well on their way to a 120-point outing. Instead, they scored just 18 in the second and were outscored 84-72 over the final three periods.

The issue in those final three periods was an inability to attack the Raptors defense off the dribble. With Simmons and Embiid combining to shoot just 8-for-24 from the field, the Sixers desperately needed some other option besides the occasional Harris mismatch. They needed a quick, decisive scorer who can get himself to the rim. They needed a player they do not have.

» READ MORE: Sixers still struggling to win often on the road, but they’re better at it than last season

After the win — and, yes, I should stress again, it was a win — Doc Rivers gave an unwitting nod to his personnel reality when somebody asked the crunch-time minutes that Milton logged.

“The way Toronto plays with the trapping and all that, we needed another guy that can put the ball on the floor and make a play,” Rivers said. “That’s why we kept Shake out on the floor, and I thought he handled it pretty well.”

But “pretty well” is not the standard by which these Sixers will ultimately be judged. Milton was fine. With Curry sidelined with a sore ankle, he logged 30 minutes, scored 11 points, and was not a liability. But as good of a role player as he has been this season, the third-year guard simply doesn’t possess the dynamism that situations like the Raptors require. Nine of his 11 points came from three-point range. As has often been the case, against a good defense, he looked like a good shooter who can occasionally make a play.

The Sixers are going to need more than that on nights where Embiid is anything less than dominant. They might not need it now, or even until April, but the circumstances are coming. Rivers might not admit it publicly, but he and his bosses surely realize this. The early trade-deadline smoke is already signaling the Sixers’ desire to add a veteran ballhandler, with a recent report by The Ringer mentioning the Raptors’ Kyle Lowry as a potential target.

Given the Raptors’ recent performance — two wins against the Bucks, one against the Sixers, Tuesday night’s stifling of Embiid — it’s fair to wonder whether Lowry will even be available. At this point, the Sixers shouldn’t be looking at Toronto as a potential trade partner, but as a team they must equip themselves to face.

» READ MORE: Ben Simmons named to NBA East All-Star team, but Tobias Harris is snubbed