Tobias Harris drops season-high 33 points to lift Sixers over Toronto Raptors
Harris, Joel Embiid, and Tyrese Maxey became the franchise's first trio to each score 30-plus points in a game since 1961.
Tobias Harris split two defenders while charging from one end of the court to the other, then received a Robert Covington pass and threw down the two-handed dunk.
Harris’ season-high 33 points — including 24 in the first half — to go along with eight rebounds and seven assists helped the Sixers pull away from the Toronto Raptors, 121-111, Friday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
Harris’ production was needed on a night when Joel Embiid was initially uncharacteristically quiet as a scorer. The Sixers center was clearly hobbled by a foot/ankle injury sustained on a backwards-somersault tumble under the basket in the first quarter, and yet he still nearly compiled a triple-double with 31 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists. Oddly enough, a Harris missed three-pointer off a pass from Embiid prevented Embiid from reaching that statistical benchmark.
The reigning NBA Most Valuable Player only scored 11 first-half points, before exploding for 17 in the third quarter. That included a streaking transition bucket off a feed from Tyrese Maxey and a three-pointer that gave the Sixers (20-8) a 90-77 lead, before a 12-2 charge by the Raptors to make the game tight entering the fourth. Still, Embiid notched his 14th consecutive game with 30 points on a corner three-pointer late in the final frame.
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Maxey joined Harris and Embiid with 30-plus points, finishing with 33 on 13-of-22 shooting — including two three-pointers that pushed the Sixers to a 113-98 lead about midway through the fourth and prompted the home crowd or urge him to fire a heat check — to go with 10 assists and four rebounds.
Harris was hot from the start, making his first six shots, including three from beyond the arc. He reached 21 points late in the second quarter on a three-pointer that tied the game at 54. He then gave the Sixers their first lead, at 57-56, with a finish through contact (and celebratory first pump) with about a minute remaining before the break.
He matched his previous season-high 29 points (also Nov. 17 at Atlanta) on a deep shot that put the Sixers up, 76-66, in the third. Then he surpassed that total by corralling the ball and quickly shooting the floater to open the final period. He finished 12-of-23 from the floor and 5-of-8 from three-point range.
The Sixers overcame a 15-point first-quarter deficit, perhaps impacted by missing starters Nicolas Batum (hamstring) and De’Anthony Melton (quadriceps) and backup point guard Patrick Beverley (heel). They allowed the Raptors to score 22 points in the paint, 11 in transition, and 10 off their five turnovers during that frame.
The Sixers will next begin a four-game road trip at the Miami Heat on Christmas night. Then they will face the upstart Orlando Magic (Dec. 27) and Houston Rockets (Dec. 29), before a Dec. 30 rematch against the Chicago Bulls who beat the Sixers in Philly on Monday.