Fred VanVleet scored 23 points and had nine assists as the Toronto Raptors defeated the visiting Philadelphia 76ers 110-103 Sunday night at Tampa.
Pascal Siakam also scored 23 points for the Raptors and had seven rebounds with eight assists. The 76ers won the first game of the season between the teams on Dec. 29 at Philadelphia.
Chris Boucher scored 11 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter off the bench for the Raptors, who have won four straight. Norman Powell added 11 points and OG Anunoby had 10.
Ben Simmons scored 28 points for the 76ers, who have lost 16 straight regular-season road games against Toronto. Joel Embiid added 25 points and 17 rebounds for Philadelphia, Tobias Harris had 13 points and seven assists, and Seth Curry added 12 points.
The Sixers’ Danny Green, who played the 2018-19 season with the Raptors, fouled out in the fourth quarter with nine points while matching his career best with five steals.
The 76ers led by as many as 13 points in the third quarter, but their lead was down to one at 84-83 entering the fourth quarter.
The Raptors took a three-point lead on DeAndre’ Bembry’s dunk with 8:13 to play.
Boucher stretched the lead to eight with a put-back layup, and Anunoby’s layup got the lead to 10 points with 4:06 to play.
Anunoby made two free throws with 1:13 to play and the lead was nine to discourage Philadelphia’s comeback attempt.
The Raptors finished the first quarter on a 20-2 run to lead 28-24.
Harris tied the game at 43 on a layup with 3:47 to play in the second quarter, and Embiid’s 3-pointer gave Philadelphia a three-point lead.
Simmons, who had 13 of his 18 first-half points in the second quarter, made a layup to give the 76ers a 55-52 lead at halftime.
Philadelphia scored the first six points of the third quarter. Toronto cut the lead to two before Philadelphia took a 13-point lead on Shake Milton’s 3-pointer with 7:24 left in the third.
Boucher tied the game for Toronto on consecutive 3-pointers in the final two minutes.
Kyle Lowry (sprained thumb) missed his third straight game for the Raptors.
–Field Level Media
