Sixers doomed by another disastrous third quarter in loss to Raptors

Philadelphia — You can't help but notice the patches of empty seats in Xfinity Mobile Arena as the pregame clock ticks down.

The team is fine. They're even thrilling. But they're also frustrating.

The Sixers can't escape this pattern of weird third-quarter blues. Joel Embiid has missed the last week with soreness in his right knee. He's practicing in full but not available for games. It's difficult to square away. Paul George missed the first 12 games of the season, played Monday and then was out on Wednesday because it was the first leg of a back-to-back.

Kelly Oubre Jr. suffered a hyperextension of his left knee in the second quarter of Philadelphia’s game in Detroit on November 14.

An MRI revealed that Oubre suffered a sprain of the LCL in his left knee, the Sixers told reporters on Wednesday. 

Oubre will be re-evaluated in two weeks. Further updates will be provided as appropriate.

So even with Tyrese Maxey playing the best basketball of his career and the team offering more inspiration in these first 14 games than they did all of last season, the juice is on the court. Not in the stands.

It damn sure wasn't there with four rotation players unavailable against a decent Raptors team.

The primary beacon of hope out of the gates was Tyrese Maxey, who understood what his job was with both Embiid and George unavailable.

It was the dose of aggression for which the Sixers have spent years reinforcing Maxey's confidence. The star guard called his own number seven times in the opening 12 minutes. The most notable difference between Wednesday and any other night was that he made Toronto play his game.

Maxey has fallen into lulls of relying on deep shooting, bailing out slower defenders stuck guarding him in space. He used the long game to open up the drive, stretching Toronto's defenders onto islands. He then humiliated them with cold-blooded threes or used his physical advantages to get into the paint.

The byproduct of Philadelphia's ultra-conservative approaches with Embiid and George is that the franchise banks on Maxey playing at least 40 minutes on most nights. But even he needs a break here and there.

Nick Nurse entrusted Jared McCain to relieve Maxey for a few minutes to start the second quarter. While the second-year guard's rough start to the season mercifully came to an end with a pair of jumpers, there were still possessions that devolved into VJ Edgecombe eating six seconds off the shot clock while staring down isolations he did not have the means to act upon.

It is one thing if McCain and Quentin Grimes are spacing one pass away, available to help the rookie out while also leveraging their shooting prowesses to keep helpers out of Edgecombe's driving lanes. It is another thing entirely when those two are standing on the other side of the court, watching idly.

That is not an acceptable use of a possession when you are down four rotation players. That sort of thing happened twice more in the second quarter.

The Sixers were not in a position to have their cake and eat it, too. You can't be protective of McCain while you have four regulars on the shelf. Something has to give.

It felt like the game was about to break away from Philadelphia when McCain laced a pull-up three above the break. That sparked a run that gave the Sixers the lead while Maxey was recharging on the bench.

It cannot be understated just how out-of-place McCain has looked in his first few games back, albeit in limited action. But Nurse is going to need to rip the band aid off. The simple fact of the matter is he's a more refined ball-handler and shooter than Edgecombe is. The minute restriction has to exist separately from McCain when he is on the court. It doesn't feel like that is the case right now.

The inclination of the Sixers' guard quartet to cut away from the ball after passing it to each other was at the core of some of Philadelphia's most damaging possessions. In order for this thing to work, especially with three boons to the offense out of commission, the guards have to screen for each other.

They often desert the action once they get off the ball, leaving it to a two-man game on one side of the floor. That can be fine when you're going to set a screen for one of your dynamic guards to lift on the other side of the floor and bridge one action to another. It is not fine when you're relocating just to space two passes away.

Valuing possessions — or not valuing them enough — was the story of the game for the Sixers.

They led by three at halftime. They lost the third quarter by 18 points. Philadelphia got to the edge of yet another comeback in the middle of the fourth quarter before the tide pushed them back out to sea in the final minutes.

The Sixers lost the possession battle by five in the third quarter. They did not score on any of Toronto's three turnovers. The Raptors scored 15 points on Philadelphia's turnovers.

Toronto was in the bonus with 8:48 left in the third. They took 12 more free throws than the Sixers did in those 12 minutes.

With their physicality constrained by their own mistakes on defense and the possession margin shrinking, the Sixers simply did not give themselves a chance.

The third-quarter woes are a trend. They're random, but a trend. And the ailment underlying that trend is the failure to extract maximum value from possessions. That's not just turnovers. It's shot selection, too.

And when the Sixers made their run in the fourth quarter, as they always do these days, the script flipped. They committed just one turnover in the fourth. The Raptors lost the possession battle by four. Toronto committed six fouls. Philadelphia committed just three.

The Sixers can try to hang their heads on a strong effort. They punched back and made it a competitive game in the final minutes despite a clear personnel disadvantage.

But take a look around. You don't know when Embiid and George will be available. Oubre is going to miss at least the next two weeks. It will help that George is coming off the shelf as Oubre is going on it. But Philadelphia is not equipped to overcome self-inflicted wounds.

The Sixers don't have much time to ruminate over where they're going wrong in this 8-6 start to the season. The Bucks are waiting for them for a date in Milwaukee on Thursday.