Game #32 Philadelphia 76ers vs Toronto Raptors Tuesday February 23, 7:30 p.m. ET

[saints91]

Great game! Damn that first quarter did them in.... but they were there. It’s evident that the Raps could be in the top 3 in the east if Masai got them some help at the 5. (Yes, I didn’t think they had the talent to be this competitive earlier in the season)

masai has to reward 5heseguys for their effort and add some more talent to this roster. Even another big 4 that can play a bit of the 5. I would really like them to go after Bagley, I think he is being wasted in Sac.

[planetmars]

Bad first quarter. Philly hit everything and Raptors struggled to put up points. Winnable game.. every time the Raptors brought it down to a 6-7 point game, Doc would call a timeout and go on a run. Missed some really clean open 3's. Fred and OG were inefficient. Pascal and Norm weren't.

Tough to make up the 3pt and FT discrepancies.. almost did though. Not sure why we tried so hard down 11 with 2 mins left. We have a game tonight against another tough defensive team. I think tonight's game will give me Minny vibes from a few days back.

You know Spo will be doing a lot of zone.. and I could see us bricking a lot of shots again.

The no foul call on Simmons after winning the jump ball between Joel/Fred was so deflating. But it was so early in the game that it became inconsequential.. just sucky when you are down free throws and are working hard on defense to make it a game, that the refs bone you over.

Still showed we can beat Philly in a best of 7. Won't be easy or pretty but is doable. Boston is the only team that strangely has our number. Nets are going to be disgustingly hard, but we have a chance in the East. Just need to stay in the playoff hunt which is going to be a grind.

[G__Deane]

Another game where the free throw disparity is huge. How many games in the last 20 have we been awarded more f/t than the other team?

Aside from the so obvious non-calls like Simmons on Norm, how much of it is bad reffing/star bias and how much of it is the Raptors not being aggressive enough in the paint and seeking or being willing to take contact? This is not a new trend and it sucks.

[saints91]

I think the foul calls have a lot to do with our aggression, there were a ton more that we could’ve been called on last night. We are a top defensive team because we are physical, that will lead to that disparity. There is some All star bias in the league, and they could have called more on Phili. Defence kept us in the game, and I don’t think the foul call disparity lost us the game. It was all the 1st quarter.

[S.R.]

Rough game in patches but by the end of it the Raptors 'won' in nearly every area except FT's and 3PM. That disparity made the difference. Pretty important categories, though.

But these days you have a game like that - Raps 30% 3PT and Sixers 45% 3PT and with nearly 40 attempts each, that's pretty much game right there. Really hard to erase that difference if you're the 30% team, that's the modern NBA.