Sixers outlast Raptors, 104-101, in overtime to win fifth consecutive game

Joel Embiid knew that Pascal Siakam, who had already dropped 38 points, would hunt for the final shot of overtime. But the All-NBA center also exuded confidence that his 76ers teammates would execute the defensive stop by guarding straight-up.

So P.J. Tucker switched with De’Anthony Melton, who then stuck with Siakam as the Toronto Raptors All-Star dribbled to his left. Melton extended his long arm as Siakam pulled up from behind the arc, the ball clanged off the back of the rim, and the Sixers could finally exhale.

Siakam’s misfire just before the buzzer — combined with a go-ahead three-pointer by Harris about two minutes prior — secured the 76ers’ 104-101 high-drama victory Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center in an outing that featured resilience, complacency, and postgame confusion about the officiating.

“I wasn’t going to complain, but that was probably the most ridiculous game I’ve ever been a part of,” said Embiid, who finished with 28 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. “That’s all I’ll say about that game. ... You can figure it [out], but I thought we did a good job of staying composed and keeping our cool, with everything going on.”

Though Embiid did not elaborate on what exactly defined as “ridiculous,” at least one call also left coach Doc Rivers bewildered.

After Harris’ long ball gave the Sixers a 104-101 lead with 2:12 to play in the extra period, it appeared he had all but put the game out of reach when he buried another three through contact by Scottie Barnes. Harris screamed from a seated position in front of the Raptors’ bench and prepared to try to complete a four-point play. But after a video review, the officials instead called P.J. Tucker for an offensive foul away from the shot and wiped away the bucket.

“Going by the rule book that I read, I don’t get that call,” Rivers said. “Someone’s going to have to explain that. Maybe they’re right. You can’t go back two plays. The foul was on P.J. under the basket. The guy [Barnes] ran out and fouled Tobias. That should have nothing to do with the play.”

Added Harris: “I just thought it was a big shot, so I liked that moment. And for that moment to be taken away, it was like, ‘Dang’ … When the points were taken off, we knew, like, all right, now we definitely have to get a stop here. It was just that grit that we needed.”

The Raptors came up empty on their final four possessions, including two when they grabbed an offensive rebound. Rivers called it “a game that, early in the year, we lose. ... Tonight, we just hung in there.”

Siakam’s final miss in overtime came after his free throw and scooping layup with 5.1 seconds remaining in regulation, before Embiid’s missed jumper at the buzzer sent the game to overtime knotted at 99.

The Sixers (17-12) overcame a poor shooting start — and a fourth-quarter drought — to win their fifth consecutive game, while the Raptors (13-18) dropped their sixth in a row. But Toronto was pesky throughout, rallying every time the Sixers built a double-digit lead in each of the first three quarters and then seizing its own seven-point advantage in the final frame.

Then it was the Sixers’ turn to storm back.

After an OG Anunoby jumper gave Toronto a 96-89 lead with about four minutes to play, three-pointers by Harris and Melton sparked a 10-0 run to put the Sixers up 99-96 with less than two minutes to go. They did not score again, while Siakam erased the deficit.

A Siakam pull-up three-pointer right before the third-quarter buzzer had also sent the game to the final period tied at 78, before a deep shot by Chris Boucher capped an 8-1 run to begin the fourth to seize an 86-79 advantage for Toronto.

“We needed to stick with what was going,” Harris said. “I thought we got a little too comfortable out there. … Going forward, we’ve got to stay humble and know, all right, let’s keep picking them apart right now. Let’s keep getting open shots.”

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Siakam’s point total led all scorers, and he added a game-high 15 rebounds and six assists. Harris finished with 21 points, while Sixers point guard James Harden added 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting, with seven rebounds and eight assists.

The Sixers will conclude this seven-game homestand with matchups against the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday and Los Angeles Clippers on Friday, before a marquee Christmas Day game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

After missing Friday’s win against the Golden State Warriors with back pain, Harris was the Sixers’ most efficient offensive player even before his crucial final three-pointer. He went 7-of-9 from the floor, including 5-of-7 from three-point range, to continue thriving in his role as a catch-and-shoot player alongside Embiid and Harden.

“You’ve got to be willing to take them, and to take them at a high level,” Harris said. “For me, I’m always looking for them in the flow of the game, and just being able to get them up. If I could, I’d take 15 of them.

“That’s just the mentality, and the work that I put in on all the off days and during the season, and watching film and [noticing] very little details on how passes are coming in the flow of the game, the amount of time from one three to the next three. All those types of things go into my preparation for a game. To be able to make those shots, the timing of them, it’s great stuff that I was fortunate to get on top of this summer and even last year.”

Harris’ night included a corner three-pointer that cut the Raptors’ lead to 96-92 in the fourth, along with a key rebound that set up Embiid’s go-ahead free throws with about two minutes to play. In the third quarter, Harris hit an early corner three-pointer, and later, a tough turnaround jumper that pushed the Sixers’ advantage back to 76-67.

And while the rest of his team went 3-of-16 from the floor in the first quarter, Harris went 3-of-3 (and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line) to finish with 10 points.

After the Sixers let an 11-point first-quarter lead slip, their all-bench lineup pushed that advantage back up to a comfortable margin.

Contributions came from everywhere. Matisse Thybulle and Danuel House Jr. opened the quarter with three-pointers. Then Montrezl Harrell finished inside, and Shake Milton followed with a reverse layup. Later, House converted an old-fashioned three-point play and a step-back three in the corner, and Harrell rattled the rim on a monster dunk.

“We need that,” Embiid said. “Anything we can get from our bench, we’ll take it. We’ve got a bunch of guys that can play. It’s all about them staying ready to just come in and have that type of impact.”

In all, the Sixers scored 25 bench points before the break. But that could not be replicated in the second half, when that group accounted for only three points.

Rivers briefly turned to the same lineup at the end of the third quarter, with the Sixers clinging to a 78-74 lead. But after Toronto swiftly trimmed that deficit, Harden began the fourth quarter with Milton, House, Georges Niang, and Harrell.

Juancho Hernangomez, who starred as international basketball prospect Bo Cruz in the movie Hustle that was filmed in Philly and featured multiple Sixers players, started for the Raptors on Monday and totaled seven points on 3-of-4 shooting in 14 minutes. He hit one of the game’s bigger shots, a corner three-pointer with about nine minutes to play that put Toronto up, 83-79.

Before the game, Hernangomez gathered a midcourt photo with Harris and Thybulle, who were both in the movie.