Australia's young basketball star Ben Simmons says there's no need to panic despite his Philadelphia 76ers suffering a 102-86 loss to the Toronto Raptors which continued their lean NBA trot.
The 76ers lost for the 18th time in 19 meetings with the Raptors and even the return of Joel Embiid wasn't enough to get Philadelphia out of their recent slump.
Embiid, Philadelphia's leading scorer and rebounder, returned after missing the previous three games because of a sore lower back but DeMar DeRozan (29 points) and Serge Ibaka (17) ensured a 10th straight home victory for the Raptors.
It was the 76ers' fifth straight loss and ninth out of 10 but Simmons called for calm.
"A rough few games," Simmons said. "We just need to get back on track.
"Once we get that game under out belts, we'll be fine. There's no reason to panic."
76ers coach Brett Brown said he could tell Embiid was frustrated at not being able to perform better.
"He wants to do so much more and he can't," Brown said. "He just hasn't practiced or, recently, played. There was a rhythm and a fluid side of his game that he was searching for."
Meanwhile Matthew Dellavedova returned to the Milwaukee Bucks starting line-up but couldn't prevent the Charlotte Hornets from scoring a 111-106 victory.
Dellavedova came into the team after an injury to All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, but failed to stop the rampaging Hornets who overcame an 18-point deficit and a 109-104 loss just two days earlier.
In the day's other games, the New Orleans Pelicans pulled away in the second half to beat Miami 109-94 and the Denver Nuggets beat Golden State 96-81 to end the Warriors' 11-game winning streak.
Australian-born Kyrie Irving scored 25 points as the Boston Celtics coasted to a 117-92 victory over the Chicago Bulls and the Memphis Grizzlies snapped a three-game losing streak with a 115-112 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Victor Oladipo scored 38 points and was perfect from the free-throw line, helping the Indiana Pacers escape with a 123-119 overtime victory over the Brooklyn Nets.
Elsewhere, Russell Westbrook had 27 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder won their fourth in a row with a 103-89 victory over the Utah Jazz and the Atlanta Hawks beat the Dallas Mavericks 112-107 in a bottom-of-the-table affair.
The injury-ravaged Orlando Magic fell to their eighth straight defeat, going down 130-103 to the Washington Wizards, while the Minnesota Timberwolves never trailed in a 115-106 win over the Phoenix Suns.
Maurice Harkless scored with 21.4 seconds remaining to give the Portland Trail Blazers a 95-92 win over the the Los Angeles Lakers and LaMarcus Aldridge had 29 points to lead the the San Antonio Spurs to a 108-99 victory over the Sacramento Kings.
