Sixers Bell Ringer: Sixers thwart late push from depleted Raptors, secure road victory

Sixers Bell Ringer regular season standings:

Joel Embiid: 9

Tyrese Maxey: 8

Seth Curry: 7

Tobias Harris: 3

Andre Drummond: 3

Furkan Korkmaz: 1

Charles Bassey: 1

Matisse Thybulle: 1

Heading up north, the Sixers had won two of their last three games, following what our Sean Kennedy described as a rarer than Halley’s comet, stress-free Sixers win over the Washington Wizards.

The Raptors-Sixers injury report was simply ludicrous ahead of this Atlantic Division showdown:

But the Bell-Ringer does not discriminate between All-NBA cachet, those who role play, two-way or 10-day so let’s get to our nightly survey.

Tobias Harris 19 points, 10 assists, 12 rebounds, two steals, one block

This was a pretty weird game for Tobi. Harris had a little thing going against this crew of officials. The refs clearly wanted to get the heck out of Scotiabank Arena and get home early in this one so they let them play. Harris seemed particularly frustrated in that regard, generating plenty of contact but not getting all the calls he deserved.

Still, Harris did two things Sixers fans desperately want to see him do more. He was creating plays for teammates, and he was driving with purpose, forcing the defense to hack.

He only shot 3 of 12 from the floor, but in Joel Embiid fashion, he salvaged his efficiency with a pile of freebies. The Long Island native recorded career highs in free throws made and attempted, going 13 of 14 from the stripe, including the daggers to put the game out of reach.

He could have easily recorded another several foul shots if the zebras didn’t have that 10 p.m. curfew.

With more than eight minutes remaining, the 29-year-old notched his first ever triple-double in what turned into a win.

Joel Embiid 36 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, 12 of 14 from the line

Tonight was a duel between Cameroonians, as Embiid and countrymen Pascal Siakam both had it going. Embiid is an athletic marvel, and had way too much power and grace for Nick Nurse’s crew.

Joel had Raps big Chris Boucher in foul trouble with four personals early in the third. The two-way dynamo often cratered the Raptors’ D and found chippies, buying up Boardwalk and Park Place in Yuta Watanabe’s mind, forcing the undrafted big to slam the ball and pick up a tech for even more free throws. That’s some Jedi stuff.

Too much Embiid.

On the other end, Embiid was a beast as well, protecting the rim and also displaying some agility out on the wing when needed.

Georges Niang 19 points, two assists, three rebounds, 5 of 8 from Newfoundland

The Raptors are a very well-coached team and Nick Nurse has traditionally found ways to throw the Sixers offense into disarray. Toronto tried a fair amount of zone defense, and surprisingly, the Sixers seemed mostly prepared for that. In reserve lineups, the ball movement was there and found Georges Niang in rhythm. In just his second game back from protocol, Niang had it going draining 5 of 8 from 3 and 7 of 10 from the field.

When they ran him off the line, Minivan even kicked it into high gear and got it into the paint for kick outs and tough finishes.

It was 87-83 and a much closer game than anyone had hoped, given the Raptors current protocol situation. But Minivan went full throttle and went on a personal 8-0 run to push the lead up to 12 with eight and change to go.

He was huge in this one and should not have been pulled in the middle of that fourth quarter. His benching precipitated a key Raptors run.

Seth Curry 12 points, 4 rebounds

Curry, like several other Sixers didn’t have a ton of impact in this game. After Embiid, Harris and Minivan, the team was a bit flat in this one. Curry was 2 of 4 from distance and drained all four of his freebies and they needed every bit of his help.

Still, they got the win, and nobody cares how pretty or not pretty it was.