76ers at Raptors
The structure of the front office has changed and the head coach received a vote of confidence in the form of a two-year contract extension, but it is not yet adding up to wins for the Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers will try to earn their second win of the season when they visit the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.
Philadelphia brought in veteran executive Jerry Colangelo to run the team earlier in the week and extended coach Brett Brown, but the players on the floor were still the same in a 107-95 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Friday. The latest reports from Yahoo! Sports have the 76ers interested in bringing in veteran coach Mike D’Antoni to serve as an assistant to Brown, adding more experience and an offensive edge to the coaching staff. The Raptors are built to win now and are doing just that with three straight victories. Toronto is excelling at the defensive end of late and held its last three opponents to an average of 90 points, capped by Friday’s 90-83 win over Milwaukee.
TV: 6 p.m. ET, CSN Philadelphia, TSN2 (Toronto)
ABOUT THE 76ERS (1-23): Philadelphia’s latest slide hit five with Friday’s loss, but the team got a boost from point guard Kendall Marshall’s return to the lineup. Marshall, who was playing for the first time since an ACL tear last January, started and finished with five points and six assists in 16 minutes and will continue to see limited playing time until he works his way into shape. “I think we should all be kind of excited to give Kendall the ball,” Brown told reporters. “That’s a point guard. That’s an NBA point guard. With more minutes, and being able to get into rhythm ... that’s a (heck) of a job in the world he lived in with the 16-minute restriction.”
ABOUT THE RAPTORS (15-9): Toronto is trying to close out a six-game homestand with a winning record after dropping the first two to Denver and Golden State by a total of four points. The Raptors allowed an average of 107 points in those two setbacks and turned things around on the defensive end in the last three games while leaning on guards Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan on the other end. Lowry put up 27 points to kick off the winning streak and DeRozan averaged 27.5 in the last two contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Raptors have taken nine straight in the series, including a 119-103 road triumph on Nov. 11.
2. Philadelphia G Tony Wroten (knee) took the second night of the back-to-back off on Friday but is expected to return Sunday.
3. Toronto backup C Lucas Nogueira (ankle) is questionable for Sunday.