PHILADELPHIA—The dog days aren’t supposed to arrive in November, but the Toronto Raptors are in survival mode, nonetheless.
asserted
Raptors → suppose → mode
Half the NBA seems like it’s sick or hurt, but without Scottie Barnes (adductor) and Kawhi Leonard (mystery left knee swelling), and with a defence that is no longer a nightly menace, these are slogging times.
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these → seem → defence
There aren’t a lot of teams that are built to win without their two best players, and Barnes and Leonard are Toronto’s best two offensive and defensive players.
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Barnes → be → players
The gladiatorial Philly crowd had a pretty fun night.
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crowd → have → night
“I mean, not enough right now
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I → mean → ?
,” said point guard Immanuel Quickley, who had 26 points on 16 shots, six assists, four rebounds and no turnovers in 28 minutes.
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who → say → minutes
“We need more.
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We → need → more
It’s not just on one person.
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It → ’ → person
It’s on our whole team.
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It → ’ → team
Even when Scottie and Kawhi come back, we got to do it as a team.
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we → come → team
We can’t win as individuals.
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We → win → individuals
It’s not an individual sport.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
It’s not swimming, not boxing.
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It → ’ → ?
So you need everybody.”
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you → need → everybody
Against Boston Wednesday in Toronto, the Raptors had built a 22-point lead and then devolved from ball-sharing to inefficient isolation, primarily from R.J. Barrett and Quickley, and lost.
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Raptors → build → Barrett
In Philly, with 41-year-old LeBron James out for injury management, they started hot again.
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they → start → management
The ball moved, and threes dropped.
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threes → move → ?
Quickley vivisected Joel Embiid in early pick-and-rolls with Jakob Poeltl; Barrett took good shots and made them; Ja’Kobe Walter and Collin Murray-Boyles
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Barrett → vivisect → them
both played sticky-rice defence, and Walter ran into Embiid’s knee, sending the giant Cameroonian to the locker room for a bit.
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Walter → play → bit
The lead hit 17.
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lead → hit → 17
But the Sixers are coached by former Raptors coach Nick Nurse, who ideally wouldn’t play his ninth guy unless he had lost a bet, and Philly just kept coming.
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Philly → coach → bet
Philly uncorked a 19-1 run bridging the first and second quarters, but the Raptors hung around.
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Raptors → uncork → quarters
Late in the half they had a lineup of Jamal Shead, Alijah Martin, Jamison Battle, Kyle Anderson and Poeltl against Philly’s starters, and you wondered who would score.
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who → have → starters
But they hung in, possession by possession, until Quickley and Barrett could return.
uncertain
Quickley → hang → possession
At halftime, it was tied at 60.
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it → tie → 60
But Philly closed the third quarter on an 11-2 run, and never lost the lead in the fourth.
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Philly → close → fourth
Tyrese Maxey is a human Maserati, and finished with 27 on 13 shots; five other Sixers scored in double figures.
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Sixers → finish → figures
Even with an exceptional Barrett game (a season-high 31 points, 13-of-20 shooting, four threes, 14 rebounds, five assists) and extremely effective Quickley minutes, Toronto could not guard enough of Philly’s stars, and gave up 24 points on their 12 turnovers.
uncertain
Toronto → guard → turnovers
Right now this team does not have quite enough dependable elements to weather a good team on a decent night.
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team → have → night
“It’s been tough,” said Barrett.
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Barrett → say → ?
“We just got to figure it out.
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We → got → it
I think we’re starting the games off better, we’re putting ourselves in a good position.
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we → think → position
We’re actually getting out to big leads.
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We → get → leads
We just have to sustain those, and figure out how to win.”
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We → have → those
“I feel like how we ended the year last year, we got to get we got
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we → feel → year
to find a way to get back to what we were doing then, which is which is guarding, getting stops when we needed them, and getting a big bucket when we needed it
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we → find → it
You know, just stepping up to the plate,” said Shead.
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Shead → know → plate
“I think last year we made the star players on every other team work really hard for what they got.
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they → think → what
“I think we’re giving them a lot of easy layups, just a lot of blown coverages that we can easily, easily overcome and we can easily fix.
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we → think → that
We just got to start talking to each other a little more.
asserted
We → got → other
…and 8 more, not listed.
The Aporia
