After a Boston rout, Sixers host a Kawhi-less Raptors side

The Philadelphia 76ers host Toronto looking to answer a heavy home defeat. A rebuilt core of LeBron James, Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey opened the season 9-2, the franchise's best 11-game start since 2000-01, before Boston beat them 123-101 on 10 November.

That loss had extra edges. Former Sixer Paul George scored 36 for the Celtics, and Brown struggled against his former club. Embiid took a hard fall in the first half and limped to the locker room, then returned to start the second half after treatment. How he has come through it is the biggest open question on the Philadelphia side.

Toronto arrives without Kawhi Leonard. Traded to the Raptors from the Clippers in the offseason, the 35-year-old has played only two games and will miss at least one more week with swelling in his left knee, the team said on 10 November. Scottie Barnes has led the scoring at 23.5 points a game, but the Raptors were 5-5 after a 118-102 home loss to Memphis on 9 November, their fourth defeat in six games.

The schedule is no help either: the Raptors host Boston the night before, so this is the second leg of a back-to-back. The market has Philadelphia as a 72% favorite. With Embiid's health unclear and Toronto short on rest and on Leonard, does that price read this matchup right?