What is the story about?
It turns out when your most anticipated game for the second half of the season is the return game of a player you traded at the deadline, that is not a good sign.
The Sixers were crushed 123-103 the Oklahoma City Thunder Monday night.
They are 39-33, awaiting the results of the Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks games for any potential standings movement.
VJ Edgecombe impressively navigated one of the best defenses in the league, leading all scorers with 35 points going 14-of-28 from the floor and a career-high
7-of-15 from deep.
Jared McCain made just enough baskets to keep everyone angry, finishing with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting in his return to Philadelphia. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 22.
On top of Tyrese Maxey (finger strain), Joel Embiid (oblique strain), Paul George (suspension), Kelly Oubre Jr. (elbow strain), and Johni Broome (meniscus tear), Quentin Grimes was also out for the Sixers with an illness. OKC was without Ajay Mitchell who’s suspended for one game.
Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.
First Quarter
- Coming out chucking served the Sixers well to start. Edgecombe, Justin Edwards and MarJon Beauchamp, who started in place of Grimes, each hit their first three of the night. The Sixers couldn’t get anything going inside though, turning it over three times by just dropping the ball and an Edgecombe layup being swatted.
- The bigs were immediately a matchup problem with Isaiah Hartenstein already vying for offensive rebounds and Chet Holmgren hitting one three stretched the floor quite a bit. On the other end, Edgecombe was able to get open using screens, but it took him a couple attempts to knock down that midrange pull-up.
- The cheers for McCain as he checked into the game were loud, but the cheers for when he made his first two threes of the night may have been louder. To rub salt in the wound, both of those were movement threes playing off his center. Fittingly, Cam Payne tried to keep the Sixers close making his first two jumpers of the night, but only one of those were from behind the arc. Even when the Sixers thought they had drawn SGA’s third foul of the quarter, that was overturned by a challenge. A corner three from Edgecombe cut the Thunder lead to 10 after the first.
Second Quarter
- The start of this one went like it was scripted. The first Thunder basket of the quarter was an Isaiah Joe three-pointer fresh off of checking into the game. Despite only playing two games since January, Jalen Williams wasn’t showing much rust, moving well to his spots while also setting up his bigs.
- Dalen Terry got a couple touches to show off. He made a layup in transition, but was way off on his corner three attempt. Watford was effective with his post-ups, but it’s hard to play catchup when the only offense comes from such a slow setup.
- At least those post-ups were something though. As the starters shuffled back in the Sixers went nearly seven minutes without a field goal and almost six minutes without points. Turning the ball over 11 times in the half didn’t help that effort. Again it was Edgecombe breaking that up, getting to his midrange pull-up before hitting a three on the following possession. The Sixers continued to swarm the paint and give up wide-open threes in the corner on the other end. The last five shots of the half for the Thunder were corner threes as they took a 22-point lead into the break.
Third Quarter
- Nick Nurse felt he needed more size as Andre Drummond started the second half in place of Adem Bona. He was able to force a Holmgren miss by the basket and knock down a corner three moments later. Edwards also made his first two shots of the half after having missed his last three. A couple more stops and a three from Beauchamp had OKC calling a timeout to stop a 13-4 Sixers run.
- The timeout had its desired effect, with the Thunder responding with a 9-2 run. Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander got back to getting to the paint, creating a good look or two for their bigs in the process. It wasn’t his most efficient night but Edgecombe’s ability to get to his spots was a real positive. He navigated screens really well to get himself open and made enough to feel good about it.
- The amount of three-pointers he took and missed is really what skewed his shooting line — he would finally get two more to fall though, hitting one from each corner. Technically the Sixers did win the third quarter, cutting the deficit to 18.
Fourth Quarter
- For how banged up they are, these particular Sixers deserve a little credit for hanging around every time the Thunder were on the verge of making things really ugly. Thanks to Edgecombe’s relentless attacking they were able to chop the lead down every time the Thunder got it up to 20. Not that it really matters, but if this game happened a couple weeks ago, it’s easy to believe they’d have been down forty points a long time ago.
- McCain hadn’t made a shot since the first quarter, so naturally he got on the board again right when the crowd was worked into a frenzy. Drummond was on the wrong end of a bad offensive interference call in between a wide open drive for McCain and a corner three.
- A rare above the break three from Drummond shortly after kept the Sixers within 16, but that was the best they could do on the night. A crooked loss for sure, but with Edgecombe’s play as the lead guard and Paul George set to return next game, things look a lot less bleak than they did a week ago for the Sixers.
