PHILADELPHIA–The final score will read the Philadelphia 76ers knocked off the Toronto Raptors in overtime 104-101. At the end of the day, they won the game for their 5th straight victory and that’s really all that matters.
However, this is the second time on this homestand where Philadelphia has blown a double-digit lead and they had to go to overtime to win the game. It happened with the Los Angeles Lakers to begin the stretch and then on Monday where they led the Raptors by 14.
Philadelphia led by 11 at the half before Toronto outscored Philadelphia 32-21 in the third quarter to tie the game going into the fourth quarter. They then built a 7-point lead in the final frame before Philadelphia had to put on a rally of their own.
“Everybody blows leads in this league,” said coach Doc Rivers. “That lead was blown by the fourth quarter beginning. We won the game. I’ll celebrate that. We won the game and we should focus on the positive stuff. Our guys fought. We didn’t have it. We missed wide-open shots tonight. Wide-open shots! When you do that, the other team is probably at some point gonna make a run.”
To Rivers’ point, yes the Sixers did not have it in this one. There were so many easy looks that they had from deep that just would not drop, De’Anthony Melton particularly had a tough night. They also had to dig deep in order to rally and win the game. For that, they do deserve credit.
“A lot of teams, when they make a run, go the other way,” Rivers added. “We just hung in there. They got a lead on us. How about talking about us coming back? We actually were down by eight down the stretch. To me, that should be celebrated.”
With that being said, the Sixers can still be better. They were not able to hold on to leads in the win over the Lakers nor this one over the Raptors. There was also the slow start in the win over the Golden State Warriors as they need to figure things out on the floor.
“We got the win, but we know it’s not just about the last two performances,” said Joel Embiid. “Even during this win streak, we can still be much better as a team. I think we were playing great tonight. Offensively, we had a couple of great stretches. Defensively I thought we were pretty good, but we know where we want to end up so we can never be satisfied with those type of results.”
With that being said, the Sixers know they have to be better. It is helpful to discuss this after a win rather than a blown lead and a loss.
“I think we are getting better every single day,” Embiid added. “We’re not perfect and every single night it’s not going to be perfect, but as long as we have the mentality of wanting to learn and wanting to get better, I think that’s what matters.”
The Sixers will now play host to the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday.
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Story originally appeared on Sixers Wire