Achi news desk-
TORONTO – Kelly Oubre Jr. scored. 32 points, including six three-pointers, with seven rebounds as the Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Toronto Raptors 135-120 on Sunday.
Cameron Payne finished with 24 points and Tobias Harris had 21 points as Philadelphia (40-35) ended a three-game losing skid.
Former Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry had a double-double with 11 points and 10 assists.
Gary Trent Jr. scored. 23 points as Toronto (23-51) lost its 13th game in a row. The Raptors dropped 17 consecutive games during the 1997-98 season for the longest losing streak in franchise history.
Bruce Brown added 18 points and Kelly Olynyk of Kamloops, BC, had a double-double with 18 points and 11 assists.
Toronto has not held a lead in its last two games.
Although the Raptors are mathematically eliminated from the postseason, they still have some stakes left in the season.
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Their first round pick in this summer’s NBA Draft is conditional, following a trade with the San Antonio Spurs last season for center Jakob Poeltl. Toronto has the sixth worst record in the NBA but if the draft lottery on May 12 moves them to seventh or higher that pick goes to San Antonio.
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The Raptors have a 37.2 percent chance of moving up to a top-four pick in the lottery and a nine percent chance of drawing the first overall pick.
Lowry drilled a three with 3:13 left in the first to give Philly a 14-point lead, his biggest of the game to that point. Raptors backup forward Jordan Nwora drove to the net to gain space to beat the buzzer to cut the 76ers’ lead to 35-27 at the end of the opening quarter.
Philadelphia led by as many as 18 points in the second, but Trent went on a 7-0 run of its own to help Toronto narrow its lead to 10 with 3:01 left in the half. The Sixers outscored the Raptors 10-5 in the final three minutes of the second, with Oubre sinking a buzzer-beating three as the visitors took a 71-55 lead into the break.
A 10-4 Raptors run, capped by a Javon Freeman-Liberty field goal, brought the hosts within seven with 1:20 left in the third quarter. Despite that small surge, Philadelphia led 101-93 going into the fourth.
That was as close as the hosts would get, with the 76ers – trying to gain ground in the Eastern Conference playoff race – pouring it on. Payne had 14 points and Harris nine in the period alone.
LOVE LOWRY – Sixers point guard Kyle Lowry and head coach Nick Nurse both received loud ovations from the fans at Scotiabank Arena during pregame introductions. Lowry and Nurse were both part of the Raptors’ championship team in 2019.
UP NEXT – The Raptors host the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.
Philadelphia hosts the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday.
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on March 31, 2024.
& copy 2024 The Canadian Press
