SIXERS NEWS

The Sixers finally returned home tonight, as they looked to snap a 4 game losing streak against the lowly Toronto Raptors. The two teams came in tied for last in the Atlantic division as expected it wasn't pretty night, particularly for the Sixers whose shooting touch and bench didn't show up. Overall the Sixers shot just 36% from the field and 12% from beyond. It's just hard to win when you can't consistently make shots. The Sixer's bench coudn't consistently do anything tonight, as it contributed just 14 points, 10 by Thad Young. It's even harder to win when you get that little from your bench. Sure Elton Brand had 27, and Jrue Holiday had 17 and 7 assists, and Evan Turner had 11 and 12 rebounds, but those numbers only go so far when there's nothing to back them up from the bench. Defensively, the Sixers were solid out rebounding Toronto 48-44, and forcing them into 13 turnovers, but they just couldn't stop Andrea Bargnani who dropped 30, or Sonny Weems who fastbreaked his way to a career high 25. Finally when you put all those shortcomings together with a costly turnovers in the final minutes, you get a 5th straight loss.

Early on despite their poor shooting, the Sixers actually had the lead and seemingly control of the game. They lead by 1 after a quarter and 1 at the half, then extended to a 7 point lead in the 3rd quarter. Unfortunately, with Andre Iguodala still on the sidelines nursing a strained achilles, the Sixers didn't have the fire power to pull away from the Raptors. Instead they found themselves still ahead by just 1 heading into the 4th quarter. For most of the 4th quarter the two teams were pretty even. In fact with just under 3 minutes to play they were tied at 85. Then the turnovers creeped in for the Sixers and Toronto used them to pull ahead and then away to a 94-86 victory. With the loss the Sixers fall to 2-10 on the season and last place in the Atlantic division all by themselves. What a team.