November 12, 2026
Bill Streicher/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Tyrese Maxey, believe it or not, made this shot.
PHILADELPHIA – The Sixers rested LeBron James on Thursday night – “it’s part of the long-term picture, and that’s where medical is at,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said to justify the decision pregame – and they did so with a chance to bank an easier-than-expected home win against a Toronto Raptors team missing both Kawhi Leonard and Scottie Barnes.
Naturally, nothing was going to come easily.
In a matter of moments, Joel Embiid went down after banging knees with a Raptors defender. Then came a Toronto blitz during which everything the Sixers could do wrong, they did wrong. The Raptors were the ones missing their two best players and coming off a flight the night prior, but the Sixers were the ones looking lackadaisical. Toronto smartly took advantage of Embiid's lack of mobility. Even with Barnes and Leonard the Raptors do not profile as a team capable of generating or making threes at a high level, but they created wide open looks from beyond the arc with ease – an ominous continuation of a trend from Tuesday's drubbing at the hands of the Boston Celtics.
Eventually, Embiid returned and the Sixers found their footing; talent won the day as they pulled back into competitiveness with a 15-0 barrage before outpacing Toronto the rest of the way. Embiid played better than a skeptic might have anticipated following his scare, but the Sixers' group of perimeter-oriented players showed up and led a depleted frontcourt mix to the finish line.
Takeaways from the Sixers' 123-112 win:
Not even three minutes into Thursday's game, the Sixers briefly experienced their worst nightmare.
Embiid went down in significant pain in the opening moments at Xfinity Mobile Arena; he tried to set a screen for Tyrese Maxey and his right knee got knocked by the knee of Raptors wing Ja'Kobe Walter.
Embiid took a moment to himself before finally getting up with plenty of helpful hands. He limped to the locker room and, before anyone in the arena could ponder what his loss would mean at this moment, he returned to the huddle and checked in after Toronto's first timeout.
As Embiid returned to the game, a crowd uninspired by the Sixers' mediocre start created some palpable energy. Then the Sixers took it from them with a horrid stretch of two-way basketball. But with Embiid resting, the Sixers made serious inroads and he was able to keep the scoreboard moving as the game went on.
Embiid had a pair of dunks on Thursday; by the end of the game he was moving much better than he was on Tuesday night. His shooting touch, frustratingly, remains a work in progress – though the Sixers put the game away thanks in part to a pair of mid-range jumpers from the former NBA MVP.
"Quite frankly, I just haven’t been aggressive," Embiid said after the Sixers' morning shootaround. "So I think it’s on me to just be aggressive about making plays, whether it’s scoring or making plays for someone else."
Embiid did look more decisive on Thursday, but he is a long way from being his best self.
Nobody is perfect, but Tyrese Maxey is the Sixers' closest thing. He has been their metronome all season long, and while Maxey's line in the box score may not have looked all that impressive, it was his early doses of steady offense that prevented the Sixers from watching the Raptors blow their doors off right away.
Maxey kickstarted the Sixers' furious run back into the game with a dazzling transition move and layup:
TYRESE MAXEY MY GOODNESS pic.twitter.com/KS2CBSFcHL
— Basketball Performances (@NBAPerformances) November 13, 2026
Maxey's tremendous effort was followed up by a buzzer-beating triple from Anfernee Simons that reengaged a nervous crowd:
SIMONS AT THE BUZZER pic.twitter.com/y6c5jF5BA1
— ˑ (@FunKneeBone) November 13, 2026
As the Sixers' torrid stretch continued, Maxey watched from the bench as Simons and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope traded energizing triples. When Simons has been good this season, he has been game-changing; this was the fifth time in 13 games the Sixers have won a game they would have lost without Simons' hot shooting. On all other nights, however, he has struggled mightily. He is still adjusting to a role that is not the typical one he has filled.
"We knew coming into the season, we’ve got so many great players," Simons said after the team's pregame shootaround. "We're going to throw out so many different lineups. Each and every game is going to look different, and so it's an adjustment period just on that."
Caldwell-Pope, meanwhile, has been as consistent as it gets because this is the role he has mastered over 13 NBA seasons. Caldwell-Pope has guarded at the point of attack with ferocity, capably guarded up at small forward frequently and has buried timely triple after timely triple:
back2back KC3's 👌 pic.twitter.com/gx1awKM8IB
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) November 13, 2026
Meanwhile, VJ Edgecombe played with terrific offensive aggression; notching a season-high in assists – so did Caldwell-Pope – while also contributing a critical handful of early points to help weather the storm alongside Maxey.
The Sixers' guards did this against a Toronto team with elite backcourt defense. Starter Immanuel Quickley has a solid reputation on that end of the floor, backup Jamal Shead is a pitbull and wings Collin Murray-Boyles and Allen Graves can create havoc. Even without Leonard and Barnes on the court, this game turned out to become a strong step in the right direction for the Sixers offensively.
Up next: The Sixers will have two days off before beginning a back-to-back on Sunday afternoon against the Indiana Pacers.
