LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) Stanley Johnson scored the tiebreaking basket in the lane with 4.9 seconds left, giving the Toronto Raptors a 125-121 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday making a winner to Adrian Griffin.
Raptors coach Nick Nurse let his assistant coach run the team and they responded with a late run from the bottom of their bench, long after Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid ended his night, to improve to 6-1 in ‘ e restart.
” Tomorrow back to reality, but it was a great feeling, ” Griffin said.
Kyle Lowry and Chris Boucher each scored 19 points for the Raptors. Norman Powell had 17 and Pascal Siakam finished with 15.
Embiid played just the first half after missing a game with a left ankle injury. He also took a hit on hand in this one and finished with 14 points in 14 minutes.
Tobias Harris scored 22 points and Furkan Korkmaz had 21 for the 76ers, who were locked out of the No. 6 in the Eastern Conference earlier Wednesday, and provided a matchup for the first round against the Boston Celtics.
They have already lost All-Star Ben Simmons to knee surgery and hope that Embiid will be at his best, but will have to be ready, regardless of who they have.
” We’ve had different lineups from the beginning so far and if you were to look at our team, a big word for us could just adapt, ” Harris said. ” To adapt to who is, who is out, how we will play and what we will do going forward. ”
Griffin said Nurse approached him with the chance to coach and the Raptors pulled it out for him by driving from 10 to half through the fourth quarter, and playing six under with 2 minutes left.
He got a chance to make up a winning play after the time limit called with 18 seconds left. The 76ers blocked a shot, but it came right back to Johnson, who softly intercepted it. The Sixers then threw away the next incoming pass.
Lowry said the players forgot to give Griffin a game ball, but the Raptors expect him to get a head coaching chance in the NBA soon and will get many other chances.
” We were really excited for him, ” Powell said. ” We wanted to go out there and play hard and help him get his win as head coach. I thought we did that throughout the game. ‘ ‘
The Raptors’ first round against No. 7 Brooklyn was already set.
TIP-INS
Raptors: Boucher had nine rebounds and four blocks. … The Raptors went 3-1 against the 76ers, winning the series for the seventh straight season.
76ers: Philadelphia is 3-4 in the new run. … Alec Burks, who scored a team-high 23 points in a loss to Phoenix in the final game, sat out with soreness with his left foot.
OPPORTUNITIES
Griffin praised Nurse for giving him a chance to gain head training experience in a game.
” I think Coach is an amazing person. He understands a coach like me what reps are needed, ” Griffin said. ” As head coach, he knows my ambitions and he wants to see me grow as an individual on and off the court, so absolutely just an amazing gesture from Coach. ”
HISTORY
76ers coach Brett Brown said the shirt he wore before the game, with a white figure with his arm around a Black, was designed by Spurs guard Patty Mills, an Australian. Brown explained that for those who did not know Mills’ Aboriginal history, his mother came from a so-called “stolen generation”, which he said was “brought a cleansing of her version of Black children in the white suburb of Adelaide. ”
” And so this American thing that we continue with George Floyd and the flashbacks that we have all experienced here in the United States, is not unique to this nation, ” added Brown, who worked with Mills on the Spurs and the national team of Australia.
FOLLOWING
Raptors: Play Denver on Friday.
76ers: Play Houston on Friday.
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