Tyrese Maxey scored 27 points and handed out eight assists, and the Philadelphia 76ers erased a 16-point first-half deficit to beat the Toronto Raptors 123-112 on Thursday night while playing without LeBron James.

James, who turns 42 next month, was ruled out earlier Thursday to manage a lower back and sciatica issue, missing his third game of the season. Joel Embiid, upgraded from questionable with a foot issue before tipoff, added 20 points after an early scare, when he crumpled to the court clutching his right knee after colliding with Immanuel Quickley in the first quarter. Embiid returned later in the period to loud cheers from the home crowd and finished 7 of 17 from the field.

Toronto, playing without Kawhi Leonard (knee) for the 10th straight game and Scottie Barnes (groin) for the fourth in a row, won the first quarter 33-24 and led by as many as 16 before Philadelphia pulled even at 60 by halftime. The 76ers shot 57.9 percent in the third quarter and broke the game open with an 11-0 run late in the period, Maxey scoring four points in the burst and finding Jaylen Brown for an alley-oop, to carry a 96-87 lead into the fourth.

Toronto got within six on Jamison Battle’s 3-pointer with 4:42 left, but Philadelphia scored 10 of the next 13 points, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer made it 121-108 with about two minutes remaining.

Brown added 18 points and six rebounds against his former team, VJ Edgecombe had 15 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, Anfernee Simons scored 17 and Caldwell-Pope had 11 for the 76ers, who improved to 10-3 and bounced back from Tuesday’s 123-101 loss to Boston.

RJ Barrett paced the Raptors with 31 points on 13-of-20 shooting, 14 rebounds and five assists, and Quickley added 25. Toronto, playing the second game of a back-to-back after blowing a 22-point lead in Wednesday’s 98-93 home loss to the Celtics, dropped its fourth game in five to fall to 5-7.

Toronto hosts the New York Knicks on Sunday. Philadelphia continues its homestand against Indiana on Sunday.

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