Good lord, they need to flush this one as quickly as fans will.
The Sixers turned in their worst performance of the year, falling to the Orlando Magic 1444-103 in an effort that looked like it belonged
to the 2024-25 squad.
Tyrese Maxey once again led the Sixers in scoring, though this time it felt like by default. He went for 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting as well as four rebounds and an assist. Easily the best news of the night was Jared McCain building on a good performance, finishing with 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting. Anthony Black led all scorers with 31.
Despite being originally listed as questionable, Joel Embiid missed his eighth straight game with a knee injury. Paul George was also a late scratch with an ankle sprain. Kelly Oubre Jr. and Adem Bona remained out. Orlando was most notably without Paolo Banchero, who suffered a groin injury last week.
Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.
First Quarter
- It was a slow start both ways — the Sixers missed five of their first six shots to start the night with a few turnovers mixed in. They were able to make up for that by getting to the line a couple of times, as well as Orlando starting similarly as slow. The first possession the Sixers moved the ball they were able to swing to an open McCain, who buried a three upon immediately checking into the game.
- This was a tough matchup height-wise for the Sixers, even if they weren’t shorthanded, but they weren’t overwhelmed by it early. Andre Drummond won his early box-outs, grabbing five rebounds in the quarter and blocking two shots on the other end as well.
- Drummond’s rebounding looked more like a necessity when he subbed out of the game as the Sixers immediately surrounded a couple offensive rebounds to Goga Bitadze. They didn’t meet that resistance on the other end though — both Maxey and Justin Edwards were able to get into the paint with relative ease. They shook off that slow start to shoot 57.9% in the quarter, Orlando bounced back just as quickly though to have the game tied up at 35 after one.
Second Quarter
- It was a sound defensive start for the Sixers, but that slipped away very quickly. They played bigger personnel to start the second, but still got beat in the paint every time down the floor. After surrendering a few layups the Magic’s drive-and-kick game was opened up for easier three-pointers. They lost a handle on Black altogether, who scored 20 in the second. Despite how hot he was, it took the Sixers multiple possessions to stop sagging off of him on the three-point line.
- Things only got worse for the Sixers as they struggled to contain Black. It wasn’t just that they were struggling to stop one player, Desmond Bane also started to get whatever he wanted to off the dribble. The Sixers helped them out as well by turning it over eight times in the second. To make matters worse, Trendon Watford suffered a non-contact injury. He collapsed and was favoring his groin area after a drive, immediately checking out of the game and heading to the locker room. He was ruled out at halftime with a left adductor strain.
- The only positive that came from this quarter was McCain looking more like himself, especially getting shots inside the arc off the dribble. He finished with 13 points in the half. Drummond was seemingly able to get into the head of Jalen Suggs, getting him ejected after picking up a double technical with Wendell Carter Jr. That hardly slowed down the Magic at all though. Fittingly, they capped off the half with a lob to Black, giving them a 26-point lead at the half.
Third Quarter
- Nothing quite sums up the post-first quarter flow of this game better than Quentin Grimes getting himself a wide open reverse layup and smoking it. The Magic only continued to pick up where they left off, despite Drummond burying a corner three at the start of it.
- It is easy, especially in a season as long as 82 games, to recognize when you don’t have it in a certain night. That being said, it’s insane how much more intensity the Magic came out of the half with than the Sixers. The Magic continued to attack every ball on every possession as if they were the team in desperate need of a miraculous comeback.
- This game got out of hand so quickly that Johni Broome appearing as early as the third held no significance whatsoever. He scored his first points of the night finishing off a dump-pass from Jabari Walker, but his first three-point attempt of the quarter was way off and he missed a one-handed push shot he had to get up with the shot-clock winding down. The Magic led by 38 points after three but never fear, Maxey had still logged nearly 32 minutes — mercifully, he was done for the night.
Fourth Quarter
- OK, it’s time to address the real concerns with this team. They have yet to make a significant playoff run, their two highest paid players hardly ever play, they are largely reliant on whatever Maxey is able to give them, yada yada yada. The real problem is this team cannot get up for the NBA Cup. Tonight’s loss drops them to 4-6 in Cup play. They’ve yet to sniff the knockout round. When will the real problems get addressed?
- How cute was the photo montage of Maxey and his dog and the dogshow? This has been a rough week for the Sixers, but at least they’ve given us some good dog content.
