By Josh Liddick, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Sixers (14-16) take the court on Thursday night against the Toronto Raptors (21-8) at home in search of their first win in what seems like a eternity.
They have lost seven of their last eight games and are currently losers of their last three games. The Sixers have fought through injuries, a new roster, growing pains, and breakdowns during this stretch, but have been unable to figure out how to win against the teams that they should be beating on a nightly basis.
On paper, the Raptors shouldn't be one of those teams, coming in 11 games over .500, and already a divisional win over Philly at the beginning of the season that's considered to be one of the Sixers' worst losses to date.
The Sixers lost that game due in part to injuries, highlighted by the loss of Joel Embiid, who proved to be one of the biggest reasons for the Sixers' struggles during the entirety of the contest.
On Thursday night, Embiid, who was originally ruled out on Wednesday for the next two games (back tightness), was upgraded to questionable on Thursday morning.
And then on Thursday night around 5 p.m. ET, Embiid was upgraded to probable as a game-time decision.
Embiid probable. Gametime decision.
— Jon Johnson (@jonjohnsonwip) December 21, 2017
If Embiid does play against Toronto in the first game of the home-and-home, I can't imagine he would play with an increased workload and that there would be some kind of minutes restriction figured in.
Raptors coming in hot
As mentioned before, the Raptors are 21-8 on the season and have quietly been one of the most successful teams in the Eastern Conference at this point in the season.
They are currently riding a four-game winning streak and have actually won 10 of their last 11 games.
DeMar DeRozan has been the brightest player for the team in the last three games, leading Toronto's scoring barrage, and has been a major key to its success during the win streak.
The Raptors have always seemed to be that kind of team that is just two dimensional with key scorers in Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan being the only two factors that teams needed to worry about.
But they have Serge Ibaka at power forward, averaging 14 points, six rebounds, and a little more than a block per game this season.
Rookie OG Anunoby had his best game of the season Wednesday night in Charlotte with 20 points on 6-of-7 3-point shooting.
So the Raptors have been able to get multiple parties involved to contribute to the team's success, and that's a big thing for the Sixers to need to know how to defend in their latest matchup.
Will Simmons shoot?
There has been a lot of talk over the last couple games of what is going on with Ben Simmons and why won't he take mid-range jumpers more often, and why won't he finish at the basket imposing his will against weaker defenders.
Some people say that his confidence level isn't high enough to add mid-range jump shooting to his arsenal of every day kind of plays, but we've already seen him being capable of taking those kinds of shots.
Really though, the Sixers have not had the best success with any kind of shooting this season, especially from outside, and losing that aspect of their game has really hurt their chances to win in game situations.
So when the Sixers are shooting well as a team, Simmons should know that it isn't helping his team when he doesn't even try to take an open-look jumper. Really, does it really hurt to try?
No Redick means more pressure on other shooters
JJ Redick was ruled out of the game on Thursday with right hamstring tightness. He is also doubtful for Saturday's tilt with the Raptors in Toronto.
Sports Talk Philly's Brandon Apter wrote about Redick's injury today and talked about his recent shooting struggles.
After signing a one-year, $23 million contract this season, many believe Redick has been one of the biggest problems of the team's recent slump. In nine games during the month of December, he's shooting just 35.8 percent from beyond the arc and turning the ball over 2.2 times on average.
It seems likely that the Sixers will feel more pressured to take the shots that Redick has been putting up, but they will need to find ways to discipline themselves to not take awkward shots and bad looks.
Robert Covington went 2-of-13 from three in the Sixers' 101-95 loss to the Kings on Tuesday. Covington has been notorious this season to continuously put up shots even when it doesn't make sense to.
With Embiid playing, you almost need to rely on him and other players to feed the ball to and score in the paint. Get the inside shot going to eventually lead to getting that outside shot working as well.
| Matchup Preview | December 21, 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Toronto Raptors (21-8, Away) |
Philadelphia 76ers (14-16, Home) |
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