TORONTO — The 76ers are looking for the perfect combination as Joel Embiid and Paul George remain sidelined.

The jury is still out following Friday night’s 115-107 loss to the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena. With this loss, the Sixers have now opened each of the last three seasons with consecutive losses.

They lost despite a roster change featuring Kelly Oubre Jr., Caleb Martin, Andre Drummond, Tyrese Maxey and Kyle Lowry. The moves came after Lowry and Martin had strong performances in reserve roles in Wednesday’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. Meanwhile, KJ Martin and Eric Gordon, who started in the season opener, were the second and third men on the bench.

» LEARN MORE: Sixers’ Kyle Lowry, considered the greatest Raptor of all time, is happy to be ‘at home’ in Toronto

The main goal of the new formation was to move Maxey off the ball. He finished with 24 points and four assists, but continued to struggle from the field, shooting 6 of 23 two days after making 10 of 31 shots against Milwaukee.

Meanwhile, Oubre Jr. paced the Sixers with a game-high 28 points and Lowry scored 14 points while making 3 of 5 shots – all three-pointers – to go along with three steals. Drummond added 11 points, nine rebounds, four steals and two blocks. And Caleb Martin also had 11 points.

But while the Sixers had balanced scoring from their starting lineup, the team struggled defensively for a second straight game. The Raptors shot 46.1% from the field, as Scottie Barnes had a team-high 27 points and Jakob Poeltl added 19 points and nine rebounds.

The Sixers trailed by 19 points in the fourth quarter. However, Philly relied on full-court defense to get back into the game, cutting the lead to nine with 3 minutes, 23 seconds left. And they got within six points at 109-103 with 45.4 seconds left. The Raptors closed the gap at the free throw line and held on for their first win of the season.

The Sixers expected to extend their winning streak against the Raptors to eight games. That’s because the Raptors’ RJ Barret (right AC joint sprain), Bruce Brown (arthroscopic right knee surgery), Kelly Olynyk (back sprain), Immanuel Quickly (right pelvic bruise) and Ja’ Kobe Walter ( right AC joint sprain) all missed the game.

» LEARN MORE: Tyrese Maxey tried his hand at postgame during the Sixers’ season opener. Could this be a sign of things to come?

Of course, the Sixers have their own well-documented injuries. Embiid (dealing with left knee injury) and George (left knee bone bruise) are with the team for their two-game road trip. But they will sit out for Sunday’s game against the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

“We’re trying to get them on the field, right? The nurse spoke about the thought process behind the duo’s trip. “So we have a practice tomorrow in Indiana. We had a shooting today. We’re trying to ramp it up a bit. So our team is here, and this is our best chance to make it happen.

In addition to the shootaround, Embiid and George participated in pregame workouts.

The Sixers looked shaky without them. This could be concerning as they are expected to miss several games this season as part of load management. The question is whether the Sixers can build the continuity necessary to embark on a deep postseason run.

But Lowry played on the Raptors’ 2019 championship team, which featured an intact starting lineup for just 114 minutes in the regular season. Lowry, Danny Green, Pascal Siakam, Kawhi Leonard and Marc Gasol only started together in nine regular season games.

» LEARN MORE: Joel Embiid, Paul George ‘progressing’ in practice, says Sixers coach Nick Nurse, but duo won’t take road trip

“It’s day by day,” Lowry said of the Sixers’ loss in the season opener without Embiid and George. “We lost our hopes of going 82-0, but it’s all good. Everything will be fine. That’s part of it. Just stay the course. We are fine.

“One day, one match. We’re not even four games into the regular season, so we’re just going to continue to grow.