Takeaways: Raptors vs. Sixers, Oct. 25

Toronto cranked up the intensity and racked up the W

In a battle between two shorthanded teams, the Raptors’ out-hustled and outfought the Philadelphia 76ers to notch the first win of the 2024-25 campaign, 116-108.

Tony Brothers and his crew did everything to make this game an ugly affair, incessantly blowing the whistle to manufacture NINETY NINE free-throw attempts between the two teams.

After suffering a thorough beatdown against Cleveland, a Sixers team missing Joel Embiid and Paul George was just what the doctor ordered. The Raptors, already shorthanded with injuries to R.J. Barrett, Kelly Olynyk, Bruce Brown, and Ja’Kobe Walter, were also without Immanuel Quickley in this one.

Minnesota awaits on the second night of a back-to-back. Here are takeaways from the Sixers game:

MOGBO EARNING MO MINUTES

When players who are trying to make it in the league get over the hump, there’s usually that one game you look back on and say, “Yeah, that was the game where you knew he could be something.”

Jonathan Mogbo had a sensational second quarter to give the Raptors momentum, then carried over that confidence into a second half that included minutes as a small-ball centre due to foul trouble for Poeltl (and Bruno Fernando struggling) and wreaked havoc on both ends.

In the second quarter alone, Mogbo had eight points that included a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line, four rebounds, two assists, a steal, and three blocks. He finished with 12 points, nine rebounds, five assists, two steals, and three blocks.

What stands out when watching Mogbo is you see the combination of great athleticism and natural instincts for the game. Yes, there is rawness to his game and his individual offensive game needs work, but the way he anticipates on the defensive end, positions himself for rebounds, and finds his teammates for good looks at this stage of his career is really impressive. In this game, he had stretches guarding Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubre Jr., and Andre Drummond.

“It’s great, if a matchup comes and my name gets called to guard somebody, I’ll be the first one to jump on that assignment and I feel I’ll do a great job with my versatility, length, athleticism,” Mogbo said after the game. “I feel like I can guard a lot of positions.”

Yes, there will be more difficult bigs to go up against than Andre Drummond and Guerschon Yabusele, but it already looks like the Raptors may be better off keeping Bruno Fernando pinned to the bench in favour of Mogbo.

BARNES, POELTL BOUNCE BACK

In the absence of Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett, Toronto needed its two best players to be the two best players and they were.

Barnes bounced back from a dreadful season opener with 27 points, five rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a block. He shot 8-for-11 from the field and 11-for-13 from the free-throw line. The best part of his performance was the assertiveness he played with right from the jump, starting off with a driving dunk and consistently looking to attack the basket. It was fitting that he finished the game with another driving dunk.

When Barnes didn’t have the ball, he was setting screens, re-screening, attacking the offensive glass. Defensively, he was regularly engaged and that’s exactly the type of energy that brings the best out of him and his teammates. Barnes also earned the ‘Win the Day’ gold chain for his performance.

Poeltl looked out of his depth going up against Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley the other night but a serving of Andre Drummond was exactly what the doctor ordered to get back on track. The Austrian finished with 19 points, nine rebounds, three assists and four blocks, but most impressively made nine of his 11 free-throw attempts.

It wasn’t all pretty for Poeltl, as he picked up his fourth foul just two minutes into the third quarter, but that worked out just fine as Rajakovic turned to Mogbo for some minutes at centre. The Austrian didn’t pick up a foul the rest of the way.

AGBAJI SHOWS IMPACT WITHOUT JUMPER

Much has been made of Ochai Agbaji’s ability to hang around in the NBA leaning on his three-point shot. In this game, he showed everything that makes him appealing outside of a jump shot.

With the Raptors clearly intent on pushing the pace, Agbaji did a great job running the floor and collecting points on the break. Since pre-season, there has also been a noticeable effort to attack when presented with driving lanes and really showcase his athleticism. That general aggression he’s showing complemented by already being a great cutter with good rebounding instincts make him passable on the offensive side of the ball in the right units.

Defensively, Agbaji spent time between Kelly Oubre, Tyrese Maxey, and Caleb Martin. Screen navigation was a problem against Maxey because of how much separation the Sixers point guard can generate with his speed, but it was managed better against Oubre.

MITCHELL, SHEAD SHOW IMPROVED PG DEPTH

It was fitting that Kyle Lowry was in the building as Davion Mitchell and Jamal Shead did their best to showcase Toronto’s improved depth at point guard. They combined for 19 points, eight assists, and five rebounds while knocking down three 3-pointers. Shead would probably like a few do-overs on his seven turnovers, though.

Mitchell got the start in place of Quickley and knocked down two threes early that set the tone for the point guards. He was constantly in Maxey’s face, and recovered well from screening actions to at least contest Maxey’s shot. Shead came in and was excellent against Maxey, gladly accepting the screen navigation challenge and helping make life miserable for Maxey. Shead and Mitchell also spent a bit of time on the floor together and that must’ve been a nightmare for Maxey.

Considering how dominant Maxey has been the last few years against the Raptors, watching him struggle to the tune of 6-for-23 shooting was a welcome sight and shows that Toronto has improved its defence at the point of attack. Mitchell did foul out in 19 minutes of action, but with the way this game was refereed it’s hard to hold much against that.

BATTLE PROVIDES SPARK

In the absence of Quickley, Barrett, and Olynyk’s 3-point shooting, Rajakovic knew he had to find an alternate source of spacing. He turned to Jamison Battle for first quarter minutes, and while those minutes weren’t a hit, the 23-year-old rookie had a huge impact in the fourth quarter where he scored 10 of his 12 points including this killer of a rainbow three:

He had another three prior to that one, as well as an and-1 bucket that followed courtesy a tapped rebound by Mogbo. Yes, he did commit three fouls in his first four minutes and fouled out in 14 minutes of play, but the impact of his fourth quarter scoring (and six rebounds in that time isn’t shabby either) was crucial in the win.

Xs and Os

The Raptors were going to need easy baskets to give themselves a good chance in this one and constantly pushing the ball down the floor created 18 fast break points to Philadelphia’s seven.

In stark contrast to the Cavs game, and in large part due to the efforts of Barnes and Poeltl, Toronto also outscored the Sixers 56-30 in the paint. If you know threes are going to be hard to come by (Toronto shot 6-for-23 from deep), you better get as many of the most efficient twos as possible. It certainly helped that Philadelphia struggled from three (9-for-29), Maxey going 2-for-12 from beyond the arc while Caleb Martin and Eric Gordon strangely only combined to attempt three 3-pointers.

The bench units that bridge the first and second quarters as well as the third and fourth quarters will be intriguing to follow this season, even more so while there are key absences due to injury. Rajakovic changed it up from Wednesday by going with Shead-Dick-Battle-Boucher-Fernando with Toronto leading 18-15 with five minutes remaining in the first quarter and it was 23-22 when Barnes returned in place of Dick with three minutes remaining.

Mogbo and Carton then started the second quarter in place of Fernando and Battle, Toronto’s lead still intact with a two-point advantage. Unlike the Cavs game, the secondary units didn’t let go of the rope and that was huge in this moment of time.

And after not falling apart earlier, the end of the third and the start of the fourth was brilliant. The five-man units of Carton-Battle-Barnes-Boucher-Mogbo and later Poeltl in place of Barnes turned a 78-76 lead into a 95-79 lead that proved decisive in the win.

NOTES

• Scottie Barnes had a drive late in the first quarter that had him limping and favouring his left knee as he made his way to the free-throw line. He stayed in the game and seemed unbothered by it the rest of the way.

• Gradey Dick had some lessons to learn from tonight, fouling out in 24 minutes of action and finishing with eight points on nine shots, one rebounds, and no assists.

• You have to love the way Chris Boucher is willing to put his body on the line for his team. While he struggled from the field and went 0-for-5, Boucher had four blocks including an absolutely insane block rushing over from the weakside to deny Tyrese Maxey at the rim while falling over: