Three reasons the Sixers won the rematch vs. Toronto

The 76ers snapped their four-game road losing streak Tuesday night with a 109-102 win over the Toronto Raptors in Tampa Bay.

It also avenged Sunday’s 110-103 loss to the Raptors. Here are three reasons the Sixers won:

After the game, coach Doc Rivers said this was one of the two or three best defensive performances of the season. Most of all, Toronto didn’t have as many uncontested threes as the Raptors did in Sunday’s win. On Sunday, Toronto shot 14-for-34 from three-point range (41.2%).

It was a different story Tuesday. The Raptors were 11-for-37 (29.7%) from beyond the arc. A key Sunday was Toronto’s Chris Boucher, who was open from the three-point line and hit 5 of 6.

Even though Boucher hit 2 of 3 threes Tuesday, the Sixers obviously didn’t give him as many open looks and were more aware of his standstill three-pointer. Among his three attempts, he had good looks on the two he made, but Ben Simmons contested his miss, which turned out to be an air ball.

It wasn’t just the three-point defense. The Sixers made Toronto take difficult shots. As usual, Matisse Thybulle, who was a plus-6, had a big role, with three blocked shots, including this rejection of Norman Powell’s drive.

The Sixers did a good job collectively on Fred VanVleet, who shot just 4-for-14 and scored 12 points (He had 23 points on Sunday.) At different times, Danny Green, Thybulle, Tobias Harris and Simmons were on VanVleet. Even when he got by one defender, the Sixers had good weakside help to alter a few of his drives to the basket.

The Sixers’ defensive effort was needed, especially on a night when Joel Embiid shot just 3-for-13 and committed six turnovers.

Last game, Furkan Korkmaz played just 2 minutes and 13 seconds. Rookie Isaiah Joe earned Korkmaz’s usual minutes. With Seth Curry out Tuesday because of a sore left ankle, Rivers gave Korkmaz the start.

Korkmaz provided the Sixers a major lift, scoring 16 of his 19 points in the first quarter as they took a 37-18 lead. In the quarter, he hit 4 of 6 threes, including this one, in which he picked himself off the floor and then made the shot.

Korkmaz didn’t even play in the fourth quarter, but he did enough early damage to force the Raptors to chase the Sixers the rest of the game.

In Sunday’s loss, Tobias Harris shot 6-for-17 from the field, including 1-for-9 from three-point range. He had a total turnaround Tuesday, scoring 23 points and shooting 8-for-12, including 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. He also had seven rebounds and five assists.

The Raptors had trouble with Harris’ versatility. Of the eight field goals he made, three were on driving layups. Besides his three three-pointers, he scored a basket inside on a feed from Simmons and hit a 19-foot, pull-up jumper.

Harris took it up another level in the fourth quarter, scoring 12 points and hitting 4 of 5 shots, including both of his threes.