Fred VanVleet scored 24 points, and the defending champion Toronto Raptors closed the fourth quarter on a 13-2 run to beat the Philadelphia 76ers 101-96 for their fourth straight win.
The 76ers led 94-88 with 5:16 left in the fourth quarter. Pascal Siakam’s three-point play put the Raptors ahead for good with 1:01 left.
The 76ers had the ball down 1 with 17 seconds left, but Siakam stole the ball from Ben Simmons. A basket would have put the 76ers ahead. They had the ball down 3 after a timeout, but Simmons missed a 32-foot fadeaway 3-pointer with 6.2 seconds left that would have tied it.
Siakam’s driving dunk at the buzzer made it 101-96 and put it away.
During clutch time, the Raptors outscored the 76ers 10-2. VanVleet scored 5 of the Raptors’ 10 on 1 for 3 shooting and 2 for 2 at the line. In the fourth quarter, Marc Gasol had 4 of his 9 assists, 1 of them on a basket by Terence Davis that tied the game.
Siakam scored 25 points.
For the 76ers, Josh Richardson scored 25 points (11 in the first quarter) with 5 3-pointers. Al Horford had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The 76ers forced 10 turnovers, about 4 fewer than usual for this many possessions. The 76ers’ starters were outscored 35-23 in 16 minutes together.