As the dust settles on another week in the NBA, the Sixers remain in sixth place in the Eastern Conference and moved their record to 29-17. The Pacers, who are holding onto the fifth place spot, are sitting at 29-16, meaning the Sixers have plenty of opportunity to improve their playoff standing with much of the season still to play. Above the Pacers, the Boston Celtics sit at fourth, Raptors at third, Miami Heat are in second, and the Milwaukee Bucks, who boast a league-best record 39-6, are in first place.

Over the past 8 days, the 76ers played five games, winning the first four and dropping the fifth game last night in Toronto against the Raptors. While these numbers look promising, they should be taken with a grain of salt; the only team the Sixers played over this span with a record over .500 was the Raptors (who they lost to). The 18-24 Brooklyn Nets, 17-29 Chicago Bulls, and 12-33 New York Knicks should all have been wins for Philadelphia, and they were good games to capitalize on. The Raptors sit at third in the Eastern Conference, and a win over the defending NBA champions “from the North” would have been big. However, when looking at the Sixers road record (a dismal 9-15) and the Raptors home record (16-7), the Raptors seemed heavily favored before tip-off.

Tobias Harris led the Sixers with 22 points and 6 rebounds, and Ben Simmons added another 17 points with 10 rebounds. Off the bench, Furkan Korkmaz dropped another 17 points and 2 more rebounds. On the other side, Fred VanVleet led the Raptors with 22 points and 8 assists, followed up by 18 points from Pascal Siakam and Norman Powell each. Every player that scored for the Raptors that scored ended with at least 16 points, and the scoring was spread well across the board.

Joel Embiid, the Sixers star center, is still out from tearing his left hand’s fourth metacarpal on January 6th, which required surgery. He was cleared to practice on January 16, and he may possibly suit up and play for the upcoming game on Saturday versus the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers are first in the Western Conference and boast a 35-9 record, which will prove to be a tough matchup for the Sixers. In addition, Philadelphia will have to play without guard Josh Richardson, who strained his hamstring in the first quarter of the game against Toronto. Richardson, who has been starting for the team, failed to score before he left the game and is expected to miss 2-3 weeks before his next reevaluation for his hamstring. Philadelphia will need all hands on deck for the next few weeks while the Sixers continue to lose starters.

The Sixers have two home games versus the Lakers and the Warriors, followed by four games on the road in a row. Those road games will prove to be challenging for the Sixers, who still struggle to win on the road; hopefully they will figure something out. Tune in this Saturday at 8:30 PM to see their next game!