Sixers lose 119-109 to Raptors in latest uninspiring effort, fall to 1-4 on the season

TORONTO — At times, it was as if the Toronto Raptors were playing five-on-zero.

The Raptors excelled in transition and made their share of wide-open three-pointers in Wednesday’s 119-109 victory over the 76ers at Scotiabank Arena.

Too small and too slow, the Sixers were unable to stop Toronto (3-2) from getting any shot it wanted. All that led to Philly dropping to 1-4 on the season. It also marked the Sixers’ 17th loss in their last 18 regular-season game here in Toronto.

The Raptors shot 54.8%, including going 43.2% on three-pointers. Their sharpshooting combined with the Sixers’ lack of defense overshadowed a solid shooting night by Philly. The Sixers shot 51.3% from the field, including going 16-for-34 on threes.

“If you shoot 51%, the defense has to hold up on the other [side],” Tyrese Maxey said. “We got to keep working on it, and keep getting better and better. It’s still early. So we can actually work on it.”

The Raptors’ 35 points in the first quarter is what doomed the Sixers most.

“When you look at the box, and all the quarters after that are basically even,” coach Doc Rivers said. “It’s the first quarter that we got off to such a slow start and their key guys got going. We gifted guys shots early. Their shots, mixed coverages.”

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The Raptors were paced by Gary Trent Jr. and Pascal Siakam.

Trent had 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting, including going 5-of-10 on threes. Siakam finished with 20 points and career-high 13 assists. The post player also made 4 of 8 three-pointers.

Siakam led the first-quarter barrage, scoring 14 of his points while making all four of his threes.

Meanwhile, Maxey and Joel Embiid scored 31 points apiece for the Sixers. The game marked Embiid’s second straight 30-plus-point performance. The Sixers All-Star center had 40 against the Indiana Pacers two days earlier.

Maxey, Embiid, James Harden and reserve De’Anthony Melton combined to score 92 of the Sixers’ 109 points. The Sixers’ other starters — P.J. Tucker (eight) and Tobias Harris (three) — combined for 11 points on 4-for-15 shooting. Harris didn’t score his points until there were 4 minutes and 57 seconds left in the third quarter.

Harris attempted only five shots, making one. This came after scoring 18 points on 7-for-14 shooting against the Pacers.

“No offense to the Indiana Pacers, but the Toronto Raptors have more versatility defensively and probably had a different game plan as well,” Harris said. “But yeah, I mean, it’s two different styles of play.”

But the Sixers preach ball movement and like to get a lot of players involved. So Rivers was asked if he was disappointed that four players combined to score 84.4% of his team’s points.

“It depends on the game,” he said. “You look at some of these teams, they have 92 points by three of their guys. We are going to have nights like that. You can live with that.

“But overall, I want more guys involved for sure.”

The Sixers had their normal rotation of Montrezl Harrell, Melton, House Jr., and Georges Niang off the bench in the first half. However, reserve center Paul Reed entered the game in place of Harrell with 2:56 left in the third quarter.

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His stint was brief. Embiid returned to the game at the start of the fourth quarter. Reed recorded a foul and was a minus-4.

“It was a loose ball game,” Rivers said. “In the first half, they got all of them. So we felt like ‘Bring Paul in, we could get some.’ ”

However, the Sixers lost a lot of their momentum with Embiid off the floor.

The NBA announced before Wednesday’s game that Raptors president Masai Ujiri has been fined $35,000 for approaching the scorer’s table and directing an inappropriate remark toward a game official. His actions occurred in Toronto’s 112-109 loss to the Miami Heat Saturday night at FTX Arena in Miami.