76ers
With bodies dropping left and right, the Sixers are starting to resemble last year’s version of the team, and not in a good way.
Philadelphia suffered its worst loss of the season Tuesday — a 41-point thumping at the hands of Orlando — and barely looked competitive.
“We got spanked,” Tyrese Maxey told reporters, via The Athletic’s Tony Jones. “That’s all there is to it. There are two or three games every year where everything kind of goes wrong for you. That’s what tonight was for us.”
Maxey added that the Magic were hitting everything, including a Jett Howard shot that bounced off the top of the backboard and still dropped in.
“That’s when you just have to realize it isn’t your night,” Maxey said.
With Joel Embiid, Kelly Oubre Jr., and Trendon Watford all sidelined (plus multiple rotation players banged up), the Sixers are simply trying to stay afloat until they get healthy again.
Raptors
Brandon Ingram keeps proving exactly why Toronto handed him a three-year, $120 million extension after trading for him in February.
In a grind-it-out affair against Indiana on Wednesday, Ingram rose up over Pascal Siakam for a cold-blooded game-winner, sealing the Raptors’ ninth straight victory and their 13th in the past 14 games.
“That’s why I’m here,” Ingram said, via Sportsnet’s Michael Grange after finishing with 26 points and eight rebounds.
Toronto has emerged as one of the league’s hottest teams, riding elite defense, late-game poise, and Ingram’s steadying presence to stay near the top of the Eastern Conference.
Nets
Of Brooklyn’s five first-round picks, Drake Powell has looked the most NBA-ready so far.
The rookie wing finished with 15 points and four assists in 24 minutes during Monday’s loss to the Knicks, flashing the two-way upside that pushed him into the lottery.
“As we go, he’s gonna continue to understand the league and the schemes, especially defensively,” head coach Jordi Fernandez said, via Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “I consider him a very, very good defender with a really high ceiling, and I’m gonna keep challenging him to be better.”
Powell appears locked into a rotation role for now, giving the Nets a rare bright spot during a tough start to the season.
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