These two East elites are 1-1 on their season series, and both have been sitting calmly in the win column for the past week. Who will remain on track tomorrow?

HOME TEAM: Toronto Raptors

The Toronto Raptors are winners of four in a row and they are simply cooking on both ends of the floor. Over that span, the offense is scoring 128.5 points and the defense is forcing 21 turnovers per game.

Norman Powell returned from an injury last week, and he picked up where he left off. He’s posting 23.6 PPG on 59.4%-shooting in just 27.4 minutes of play across his last four games. With such a run, he’s joining the ranks of his star teammates in terms of getting constant attention from the defense.

Powell, of course, is a nice addition to the list of studs in the Raptors’ core, as led by Pascal Siakam (23.7 PPG), Kyle Lowry (20.1 PPG, 7.6 APG), Fred VanVleet (18.4 PPG, 6.7 APG), and Serge Ibaka (14.2 PPG).

Siakam (25 pts) and VanVleet (24 pts, 8 asst) led Toronto in its 101-96 win against the Philadelphia 76ers last November 25th. Lowry’s 26 points, meanwhile, paced the team during the 110-104 loss last December 8th.

ROAD TEAM: Philadelphia 76ers (29-16)

The stats aren’t as crazy as the Raptors’, but the Sixers are also boasting a four-game winning streak. The solid defense is evident, though, as they are only allowing 98.3 PPG in that stretch.

Countering Norman Powell’s scorching run is the ultra-focused Ben Simmons, who has been silencing haters as of late. The Aussie poured in a career-high 34 points to go along 12 rebounds and 12 assists in Tuesday’s 117-111 win over the Brooklyn Nets, and he’s now parading averages of 23.8 PPG, 10 RPG, 8.2 APG, 65.8 FG% in his last five outings.

With Joel Embiid (hand) still a handful of games away from a return, Tobias Harris and Josh Richardson will be the other primary options alongside Simmons. Both have scored 25-plus on the Raptors this season.

PREDICTION:

The Raptors get slowed down on offense but still manage to come out with a tough 109-104 win.

Powell’s athleticism and Siakam’s size going against Simmons, Harris, and the similarly athletic and long-armed Sixer forwards should be interesting.