The Philadelphia 76ers hosted the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night in the Emirates NBA Cup group play. The Magic came into tonight 2-0 in group play, while the Sixers have yet to win a game in their group, starting 0-2. Both teams were looking to bounce back from losses on Sunday and start to gain some consistency in their play.
The Sixers would be without Joel Embiid, VJ Edgecombe, Kelly Oubre Jr., Adem Bona, and Paul George, who was listed as probable and then updated to out prior to the game. The Magic were missing one of their stars in Paolo Banchero, Mo Wagner, and Jonathan Isaac. Injuries continue to play a storyline to begin the season for the Sixers, placing a ton of pressure on Tyrese Maxey’s shoulder, who was dealing with a right shoulder injury himself, but suited up.
The Orlando Magic started the first quarter with all eyes on Tyrese Maxey, doubling and showing on every screen or dribble handoff. They played physical to try to disrupt his timing and play, which caused Maxey to get an early technical foul after not getting a foul call. Nick Nurse went to his bench rather early in the first, getting Jared McCain and Trendon Watford in the game to help with ball handling.
McCain’s presence was felt immediately on the offensive end for the Sixers, hitting two three-pointers and scoring seven points in the quarter. With every made shot, his confidence seemed to grow after his slow start to the season. Watford had an impact in the first quarter as well, but the Magic were still able to stay in the game.
The Sixers went to a zone defense in the first, and the Magic got extra possessions from offensive rebounds and started to find their range late in the quarter, tying the game at 35 by the end of the first quarter.
Orlando started the quarter on a 9-2 run, powered by Anthony Black. He made the most of the opportunities, hitting three-pointer after three-pointer and catching lobs on the fast break. He knocked down a three-pointer to give him 20 points with 7:21 remaining in the first half.
The defense was non-existent for Philly in the second quarter, allowing 29 points in the first six minutes of the quarter. Anthony Black’s play fueled Orlando, and it gave confidence to players like Desmond Bane and Wendell Carter Jr.
A terrible second quarter, which saw the Sixers give up 51 points and get outscored by 26, got even weirder with an altercation between Andre Drummond, Jabari Walker of the Sixers and Wendell Carter, Jalen Suggs, and Desmond Bane of the Magic.
The second half mirrored the second quarter with the Magic continuing their domination. They pushed their lead up to an embarrassing number and continued to run the score up with NBA Cup rules in play. Point differential is a key component of the cup and would determine their seeding in the single-elimination round. Ultimately, Orlando defeated the Sixers 144-103. Anthony Black scored a career-high 31 points off the bench for the Magic, and Tyrese Maxey scored 20 points for the Sixers.
Not only did the Sixers lose the game, but they also lost two players to injury. Trendon Watford went down in the second quarter to a non-contact injury, which turned out to be a strained left abductor. Three possessions into the third quarter, Justin Edwards went to the locker room with an apparent foot injury. Watford did not return, but Edwards was able to.
The Sixers can’t afford injuries to anyone on the roster anymore with so many of their rotation players already out. Expecting Maxey to be Superman every night is not sustainable, and tonight showed what can happen when he can’t put the team on his back on a night-in and night-out basis. If they can’t get some guys back, this season could get ugly just as fast as this game did.
Philadelphia travels to Brooklyn on Black Friday to finish up NBA Cup group play against the Nets. The game is set to tip off at 7:30 p.m. EST.
