By Lewis Gould
Sixers fans have a big reason to smile this morning.
The Lakers won last night.
So, Philly is the last winless team in the NBA at 0-7 after getting crushed by Toronto, the Beast of the East.
DeMar DeRozan scored 24 points, Terrence Ross had 17 and the Raptors routed the now 0-7 Sixers 120-88 Sunday night for their sixth victory in seven games.
”We didn’t let up at any point,” DeRozan said. ”We didn’t give them any hope.”
Lou Williams added a season-high 16 against his former team and Philly native and Villanova star Kyle Lowry (photo above) had 14 for the Raptors, who are alone atop the Eastern Conference for the first time in their 20-year history. They were tied for first in November 2004.
”They are one of the best teams in the East right now,” Sixers guard Tony Wroten said. ”They played great tonight.”
Toronto set a season high in points against the 76ers, who were even worse defensively than when they allowed 118 points against Chicago on Friday.
”We came in here and we got manhandled,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said. ”They have elite athletes who can score and we got jumped.”
Wroten scored 18 points and Chris Johnson had 16 for the 76ers, who lost for the 70th time in their past 86 regular-season games.
Philly is off to its worst start since the 1972-73 season, when it was 0-15 on the way to setting an NBA record for futility by finishing with 73 losses.
”I felt like we got dispirited for the first time,” Brown said. ”We didn’t do anything we talked about on offense in regards to sharing the ball. I thought it got ugly quick.”
The 76ers haven’t won in Toronto since Nov. 10, 2012, losing their past four at Air Canada Centre. Toronto has won five straight overall against Philly.
Toronto made 24 consecutive free throw attempts before Williams missed the first of two with 1:37 left in the third quarter. Williams made the second for the Raptors, who finished 27 for 30 at the line.
The Sixers scored the game’s opening basket but never led again. DeRozan had nine points in the first as the Raptors led 33-20. Williams scored 10 points in the second to give Toronto a 60-45 lead at the half.
DeRozan scored 13 points in the third and Williams capped the quarter with a buzzer-beating jump shot as the Raptors took a commanding 88-63 lead into the fourth.
