Barnes, Murray-Boyles overcome Maxey brilliance as Raptors beat Sixers in overtime thriller

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A pair of banged-up teams played the first of two straight in Toronto and while it was as ugly as it gets, they gave the fans an entertaining tilt that needed extra time to solve.

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Scottie Barnes hit a free throw in the final second, intentionally missed the second, and Toronto held on for a 116–115 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. The Raptors improved to 24–16 despite hitting a season-low-tying five three-pointers.

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Barnes finished with 31 points, rookie Collin Murray-Boyles added 17 points and 15 rebounds and the Raptors overcame 38 points from superstar 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey. It looked like Maxey had won the game in regulation after he hit a tough layup and a three-pointer late sandwiched between a Barnes travel call, but the Raptors somehow managed to force overtime.

Some takeaways:

INJURIES GETTING RIDICULOUS

When you lose a fill-in starter to injury five minutes into a game you know things are getting a bit ridiculous on the injury front.

Ja’Kobe Walter, filling in for Brandon Ingram at small forward, suffered a right hip pointer and did not return. Toronto was already without centre Jakob Poeltl, shooting guard RJ Barrett and of course leading scorer Ingram.

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Head coach Darko Rajakovic labelled both Barrett and Ingram as day-to-day and said Ingram was “very close (Toronto and Philadelphia play again Monday and Ingram got shots up pre-game). Barnes, who has only missed one game all year, had been questionable to play but not only suited up, was also the best player on the court.

The Poeltl situation isn’t anywhere near as positive.

The 30-year-old big man missed his 10th straight game and 12th of the last 13. That’s in addition to the nine other games he’s been unavailable for due to a lingering back issue.

“As you guys know, backs are always tricky,” said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic. “We’re trying to explore every single option to help him and put him in a position that when he comes back, he’s back and playing. There is no real update at this point. He’s going through workouts. He’s starting to do contact and all of that. As of now, he’s out.”

It wasn’t too long ago that Rajakovic and the Raptors had been optimistic and pretty non-plussed about Poeltl’s injury. They’d expected him to return to the lineup regularly during the holiday season, but that obviously was misplaced hope.

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Who knows at this time when, or if, Poeltl will be able to play consistently.

“Not at this time. Hopefully sooner than later. But not at this time,” was Rajakovic’s answer when asked if there was a timeline.

Philadelphia had its own share of injury issues. Former All-NBA forward Paul George was a late scratch while 2022-23 NBA MVP Joel Embiid was an early one.

In all, two players earning more than $50 million this season were out, along with one making $38 million, one making $27 million, and another earning $19.5 million.

Raptors rookie Alijah Martin gave the team a huge lift with nine points, eight rebounds and dogged defence. He was rewarded with clutch minutes in the fourth quarter and in overtime.

WOEFUL SHOOTING A PROBLEM

Toronto’s outside shooting is becoming a massive issue. The team missed 18 straight three-pointers on Boxing Day in Washington and was 29th in three-point accuracy over the last 11 games (31.4%) before Sunday’s disastrous outing.

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The Raptors started 3-for-23 from three, and only got away with it because Philadelphia started 4-for-22. Against typical opponent shooting Toronto would have been blown out. The reserves missed their first eight attempts and the starters weren’t much better.

Ingram and Barrett might have the highest accuracy percentage in the league, but they are viable threats from outside and huge parts of the offence. Even Walter was coming off a 5-for-9 outing against Boston on Friday. The Raptors could have used a game like that to pull out a close one.

Even the closer shots were an issue. Jamison Battle, arguably the best shooter on the team, went 1-for-3 from the free throw line. He shot 88% there last year and was at 80% coming into the game.

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AROUND THE RIM

Jamal Shead scored a career-high 22 points and had six assists. He even threw down a dunk just before the halftime buzzer, his first jam of the season. He had five last year. Toronto entered Sunday 18th in dunks despite being one of the shorter teams in the league. Barnes had a massive lead in dunks with 52. Murray-Boyles and Sandro Mamukelashvili had 20 each, Ingram 18, Barrett 16 … Maxey was averaging 26.7 points at Toronto in his career, the seventh-most of any player and nearly matched that total through three quarters and ended up moving up to third on the all-time scoring list at more than 28 a game.

@WolstatSun

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