Sixers hit a new low; fall to lowly Raptors

Philadelphia (The Phanatic Magazine) - The Philadelphia 76ers couldn't close their eyes right now, never mind a game.

Doug Collins' club hit a new low on Wednesday, falling to the woeful Toronto Raptors, 94-86, in front of a sparse crowd generously labeled as 12,164 by an embarrassed organization.

Andrea Bargnani scored 30 points while Sonny Weems added a career-high 25, and former Sixer Reggie Evans contributed 14 rebounds in 31 minutes of action for the Raptors.

"It is a tough matchup," Collins said of Bargnani. "He is a 7-footer who can shoot, he can put the ball on the floor, he can post. We have got to be able to close out games and we have not been able to do that."

Jose Calderon chipped in with 12 points, eight assists and five rebounds for Toronto, which snapped a two-game skid.

Elton Brand had a season-high 27 points and eight rebounds for the Sixers, who fell to a miserable 2-10 on the season. Jrue Holiday added 17 points, seven assists and six rebounds but failed again and again down the stretch as Toronto outscored Philadelphia 25-15 in the fourth quarter and finished the game with an 11-1 spurt.

"It was the same old, same tonight," Brand said. "It seems like we could have pulled it out. We had the lead and just couldn't get stops at opportune times."

"We need to get the defensive stops and find a way to score at the end of games," Collins added. "We had a couple opportunities, point blank shots that we missed, and that was tough."

Rookie Evan Turner, starting again for the injured Andre Iguodala, added 11 points, a team-high 12 rebounds and four assists for the Sixers, who have dropped five straight.

"Evan did a nice job one again and competed," Collins said. "He is going every night and I think Evan is doing a terrific job."

The bench was especially bad for the 76ers tonight, combining to shoot 6-of-29 on the night with Lou Williams failing to make a shot (0-for-7 in 12 minutes of action). Williams is shooting a dismal 22.5 percent over his last five games.

However, the real culprit for the Sixers on a daily basis is the lack of interior defense. Spencer Hawes, Brand, Marreese Speights and Thaddeus Young are all poor defenders, resulting in numerous layups and an almost unthinkably easy time for the opposing bigs. Tonight Bargnani, a very talented player,  finished 12-of-18 from the floor while a player like Anderson Varejao of the Cavs, a defensive-minded guy that is not exactly known for his touch, made 13 straight shots against Philadelphia over two games.