76ers drop bad one to Raptors

By John N. Mitchell, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Posted: April 04, 2012

It wasn't long ago that the 76ers were dropping a road game in Washington that had their followers wondering if the bottom had fallen out.

If it didn't then, it almost certainly did Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Center.

With the fans booing late and often for most of the fourth quarter, the Sixers absorbed an inexcusable 99-78 beating at the hands of the Toronto Raptors.

The Sixers (29-25) scored just 23 points in the second half and lost in embarrassing fashion. After scoring just 15 points in the third quarter, the Sixers were still within striking distance, trailing by just 79-71. But the Sixers scored a season-low seven points on 3-for-20 shooting in the fourth quarter, prompting those that remained from a crowd of 18,186 to shower them in boos as they headed for the locker room.

They began the game 1 1/2 games out of first place behind Boston (30-22), which hosted San Antonio on Wednesday.

Toronto (20-35) was led by Andrea Bargnani's game-high 24 points. DeMar DeRozan added 18 points, and Jose Calderon finished with 12 points and 13 assists for the Raptors, who made 50.6 percent of their field goals.

Elton Brand and Jrue Holiday led the Sixers, losers of eight of their last 12 games, with 20 points apiece. However, they had 14 and 17 points, respectively, at halftime.

The offense came easily for the Sixers in the first half as they should for a team that has playoff aspirations against a team that is headed to the lottery.

Behind the hot-shooting Holiday, the Sixers connected on 58.1 percent (25 of 42) of their field goals to lead by 56-55 at halftime.

Brand (6 of 8) and Holiday (8 for 8) were the primary reasons for the Sixers' hot shooting early on. Bolstering the Sixers' early offense was a good contribution from Spencer Hawes, who also had 10 points at the half.

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