Sixers Bell Ringer: Hot shooting night from Tobias Harris helps give Philly fifth straight win

Sixers regular season Bell Ringer standings:

Joel Embiid- 9

James Harden- 6

Shake Milton- 4

Tyrese Maxey- 3

Paul Reed- 2

Tobias Harris- 2

De’Anthony Melton- 1

Georges Niang- 1

Well, the Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors played one of the games of the 2022-23 NBA season. It will not any awards for its aesthetics. But it certainly happened. Despite some significant second-half struggles, the Sixers knocked off Toronto, 104-101, in overtime. They’ve now won five games in a row. Tobias Harris scored 21 points on nine shots. Joel Embiid tallied a team-high 28 points and dialed it up defensively down the stretch. Danuel House Jr. added nine points off the bench. It’s time to talk Bell Ringer. Let’s get to it.

Tobias Harris: 21 points, four rebounds, one assist, one steal

After missing Friday’s win over the Golden State Warriors due to back pain, Tobias Harris returned and provided a necessary lift amid an offensive slog for the Sixers. He canned five triples, one of which served as Philadelphia’s lone bucket of overtime. Late in the fourth, with the Sixers trailing by seven, Harris bailed out a clunky possession via a corner three. That triple ignited a 10-0 run that saw Philadelphia go from trailing 96-89 to leading 99-96. Toronto loves to brazenly load the paint and help from the strongside, so Harris’ snappy release beyond the arc was crucial and he delivered repeatedly.

He also authored a handful of stout defensive sequences on and off the ball, as the Sixers held the Raptors to an 80.6 offensive rating in the half-court. Not many Sixers turned in memorable outings, but Harris was surely quite good.

Joel Embiid: 28 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, two steals

For the first time all month, Embiid failed to record at least 30 points. Twenty-eight will have to suffice, I reckon. Toronto packed the paint and soundly contested a lot of his midrange jumpers, but he still unlocked ways to contribute and went to the line 15 times. He scored or assisted on 15 of Philadelphia’s final 23 points and generated a flurry of quality shots with his playmaking, especially in the first half. While P.J. Tucker assumed the primary assignment on Pascal Siakam, Embiid took the reins at times in the second half, and occasionally gave the star forward some problems. This game will not headline Embiid’s All-Star candidacy, but the big fella was pretty good nonetheless.

Danuel House Jr.: Nine points, two rebounds, one assist

The Sixers entered the second frame down 23-22. House quickly catalyzed a run to erase that deficit. Before the eight-minute mark of the quarter, he followed up Matisse Thybulle’s pull-up triple with his go-to, sidestep three, fed Montrezl Harrell for a bucket in early offense, converted an and-one on the break and drilled another three. The veteran wing often teeters the line between chaos and controlled aggression offensively, and channeled it well to bring a welcomed pop off the bench in his 11 minutes.