Tyrese Maxey scored 15 of his 34 points in the second quarter, and the visiting Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Toronto Raptors 114-107 Saturday night.
Joel Embiid also scored 34 points to go with nine rebounds, eight assists, and two blocked shots to help make new coach Nick Nurse a winner in his return to Toronto.
Nurse, who coached the Raptors for the previous five seasons, was honoured with a video tribute during the first quarter. Nurse guided the Raptors to their only NBA championship in 2019.
The Raptors has lost two of its first three under new coach Darko Rajakovic. Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 18 points for the 76ers, who split its first two games of the season. Tobias Harris contributed 15 points.
Scottie Barnes scored 24 points for the Raptors. Gary Trent Jr. added 17 and rookie Gradey Dick contributed 16 points. Dennis Schroder had 15 and Pascal Siakam had 11 points.
The 76ers took a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter.
Oubre made two free throws to stretch the lead to 14 with 9:20 to play in the fourth. Toronto cut the lead to five on a 3-pointer by Dick with 6:20 to play. Maxey’s 3-pointer increased the lead to 12 with 4:15 left.
Toronto led 36-27 after the first quarter.
The Raptors opened a 12-point lead early in the second quarter. The 76ers came back to take a 51-48 lead on Maxey’s 3-pointer with 5:11 to play in the quarter.
Toronto responded with an 11-0 surge to take an eight-point lead. Maxey’s 3-pointer completed the first-half scoring with Toronto leading 59-56.
Embiid had 16 first-half points. Trent led Toronto in the first half with 14 points.
Philadelphia opened the third quarter on a 13-2 run. The 76ers increased the lead to 77-64 on Maxey’s 3-pointer with 6:42 left in the third. The 76ers led 91-79 after the third quarter.
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