On Sunday night, the Philadelphia 76ers will round out their three-game home stand against the Toronto Raptors. Both teams are fighting for a quality spot in the reverse standings to improve their draft position and lottery odds. Both teams are in tank mode, but the Raptors have won three straight, while the Sixers have lost seven straight games.
Sixers game information
Who: Toronto Raptors (27-47) at Philadelphia 76ers (23-51)
When: 7:30 p.m. EST
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadephia, PA
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Latest on the Sixers
The Sixers have been playing with eight or nine players for the last three weeks, it seems, and those same players will most likely be depended on tonight against the Raptors. You can expect all the usuals to be out, including Tyrese Maxey and Andre Drummond, who were ruled out a couple of days ago for this contest.
You can expect the Sixers to maybe rest Quentin Grimes in this one, but they will rely on rookie standout Justin Edwards to lead the way in this one.
Latest on the Raptors
The Raptors have been in tank mode for a while but have won three straight games, even though they have tried not to. They have controversially sat their healthy starters on multiple occasions and categorized it as rest. They also don’t play their starters in the final eight minutes of the fourth quarter.
Newly acquired Brandon Ingram hasn’t seen the floor since his trade in February. The Raptors have already ruled out Immanuel Quickly and Jakob Poeltl for Sunday night’s contest in Philadelphia.
What to watch for
As the season winds down, games like tonight are focused on the development for the Sixers younger players like Justin Edwards, Adem Bona, Jared Butler, and Ricky Council IV. In a lost season, they have gotten more minutes than anticipated and will only help the Sixers in the future. Philadelphia native Justin Edwards has grown since his first action early in the season and he should continue to show aggressive on the offensive end.
Ricky Council IV has the runway for the next eight games to show if he fits into the Sixers’ future plans and if he can really gain the trust of the coaching staff, so expect him to show that he belongs in this matchup with the Raptors.
With some key players on the bench for the Raptors, Scottie Barnes and Ochai Agbaji will take on most of the scoring early in the game. Later, you can count on players like Jamal Shead, Jamison Battle, and Ja’Kobe Walters to do most of the damage offensively, as the Raptors like to play their bench late into games.
The Sixers need this loss more than the Raptors do but the Raptors seem determined to make it easy for the Sixers to grab a win. Feels like a close Sixers win, coming down to the wire.
