Coach Nick Nurse believes defensive improvement led by Kawhi Leonard was key to the Toronto Raptors' 129-112 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday.

The Raptors (7-1) had been comfortably beaten by the Milwaukee Bucks the previous night for their first defeat of the NBA season, with their offense lacking its usual fluency.

But after a much better display against the 76ers, Toronto boss Nurse attributed his side's success to their ability to turn over the ball in defense and get on the attack quickly.

"We had three really good quarters and we got some stops - a lot of them," Nurse told a news conference. "Some deflections, some rebounds, we kept them under 42 per cent.

"I think that's six or seven out of eight games we've had [the opposition] field goal percentage under 42.

"That's going to fuel our offense much better than last night when we were watching it go through the net, taking it out and they were set up against us. That was probably the biggest thing."

Clutch performance. pic.twitter.com/RfKxPrM8ko

— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) October 31, 2018

And Leonard was key, with Nurse praising the close-season signing from the San Antonio Spurs for inspiring the defensive effort.

Leonard, the 2014 NBA Finals MVP, limited star 76ers guard Ben Simmons to 11 points, 10 assists and an incredible 11 turnovers.

"He's pretty valuable, right? [Leonard's guarding versatility] is similar to his offense value: with the ball, without it, he can score in, he can score out," Nurse said.

"He can do the same on defense. He can guard the ball, he can guard people coming off pin-downs, he can guard guys on the post, but mostly I think it's his natural instinct for getting his hands on stuff.

"The ball is popping around and, all of a sudden, boom, he comes out of there with it in any variety of ways.

"I think we had 18 deflections in the first half - which is a big, big number - and we turned them over 14 times. When Kawhi is up and guarding, getting his hands on balls, it spreads to other guys and they feed off that."