TORONTO -- The way coach Dwane Casey puts it, the Toronto Raptors cannot afford to lose their focus against any team.

"We're not good enough to mess with the game," Casey said after the Raptors defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 96-76 on Sunday, "because the game will turn around and mess with you if you do that."

The Raptors, who opened up a 20-point lead during the third quarter, saw the lead shrink to six points with 7:16 to play in the fourth quarter.

Casey returned guards DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry to the court and the Raptors soon had the lead back up to 14 points on DeRozan's layup with 2:25 to play.

"I think it's kind of understanding that we might become stagnant, or we're not getting to the rim or being aggressive like we should," said DeRozan, who scored 25 points and grabbed eight rebounds. "Kyle and I noticed that and once we came in in the fourth quarter, we tried to establish that again, being aggressive, trying to get to the free-throw line."

The Raptors (16-9) earned their fourth win in a row, while the 76ers (1-24) fell for the sixth consecutive game.

Forward Luis Scola added a season-best 22 points for Toronto, and Lowry contributed 16.

Center Jahlil Okafor led Philadelphia with 23 points and 14 rebounds.

Forward Robert Covington added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Sixers, and guard Isaiah Canaan scored 10 points.

"We got (their lead) down by getting stops and obviously scoring on offense, but it started with our defense," Okafor said. "We still played good defense, but we had trouble scoring towards the end of the game. I think it starts with defense, defensive stops and just being able to execute on the offensive end. We've gotten better at that, we're going to have to continue to improve."

It was his third straight game with 20 or more points. "Just a matter of rhythm, that's all it is," Okafor said.

The Raptors led by eight points at halftime and took a 20-point lead during the third quarter before the margin dwindled to 11 points entering the fourth.

Philadelphia's coach Brett Brown felt his team turned the ball over too frequently. "I think the turnovers is where I go first," Brown said. "We have 22 turnovers and give up 28 points at that number. We break our season down into clumps of 10 games. This clump of 10 we're on right now, we had hoped to turn it over 16 times (on average). We've been talking about it a lot. That's an average number by most teams. For us 22 is far too many."

The 76ers lost forward Nerlens Noel to a corneal abrasion with 3:15 to play in the third quarter. He was taken to the hospital for an examination that Brown said was "precautionary."

The Raptors closed the first quarter with a 9-0 run to take a 32-24 lead.

Scola scored 14 points in the opening quarter and DeRozan added 11. Okafor led the 76ers with 10 first-quarter points.

Toronto led by 12 points early in the second quarter before the 76ers trimmed it to four with 5:51 left in the half. The Raptors pulled out to a 52-44 halftime lead.

Toronto scored the first six points of the second half. The advantage reached 17 on Scola's 6-foot jumper with 4:13 to play in the third to complete his scoring.

Lowry's 3-pointer stretched the lead to 20.

The 76ers put together a 9-0 run to complete the third quarter that ended with the Raptors leading 69-58.

Philadelphia guard Kendall Marshall opened the scoring in the fourth quarter to stretch the 76ers' run to 11-0 and trim the lead to nine points. Covington's 3-pointer with 7:50 to play cut the lead to eight, and

Okafor's 3-foot jumper after a Raptors miss made the score 77-71.

The Raptors led by 11 points after center Bismack Biyombo made two free throws with 5:16 left.

NOTES: Philadelphia coach Brett Brown confirmed Sunday that the team has talked to former NBA coach Mike D'Antoni about joining the coaching staff. ... 76ers G T.J. McConnell started Sunday and G Tony Wroten (right knee) was rested for the second consecutive game. Wroten has played three games since returning on Dec. 5 from a partially torn ACL. ... Philadelphia G Kendall Marshall (right knee) played his second game since returning from a torn ACL but continued to have his playing time limited. ... Raptors F DeMarre Carroll (right knee contusion) and C Jonas Valanciunas (fractured left hand) remained out of the lineup. ... The 76ers travel to Chicago for a game Monday against the Bulls. ... After completing a six-game homestand Sunday, the Raptors visit the Indiana Pacers on Monday.