After a disappointing late-game collapse in Orlando on Sunday night caused by a comedy of errors, the Sixers were back in action on their home floor on Tuesday night. But the task at hand only got tougher: instead of facing the undermanned Magic, the Sixers found themselves playing host to the 32-6 Oklahoma City Thunder. It was clear the Sixers would be short-handed, but to what degree that would be the case remained up in the air. But by the time the game tipped off at 7:10 p.m. EST, the Sixers were in even more dire straits than anybody could have imagined.
Typically, our "instant observations" stories begin with a brief summary of the most critical aspects of a game — key matchups, standout performers or highlight plays — before diving into some of the more specific ins and outs which jumped out during 48 minutes of basketball.
It would feel a bit silly to treat this game like any other, though.
Wearing street clothes on the bench or not present at all for the Sixers on Tuesday night were — allow me to take a deep breath here — Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Paul George, Caleb Martin, KJ Martin, Andre Drummond, Kyle Lowry and Jared McCain.
The Thunder handled the Sixers easily, 118-102. Some thoughts:
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• Head coach Nick Nurse started Reggie Jackson, Eric Gordon, Kelly Oubre Jr., Ricky Council IV and Guerschon Yabusele, with his available bench players being rookie center Adem Bona and three two-way players: Jeff Dowtin Jr., Justin Edwards and Pete Nance. One of those players, Nance, woke up on Tuesday morning as a free agent. The Sixers brought him back into the fold just hours before the game, seven days after he had been waived by the team following a month-plus-long stint which produced one NBA appearance.
Of 17 players on the Sixers' roster — either standard contracts or two-way deals — only those nine were available. They were all forced into roles far greater than they should ever be in.
In Oubre's case, for example, that meant going from a terrific two-way role player on the wing to a primary ball-handler and backup point guard. For players like Jackson, Gordon and Council, it meant going from situational pieces at the back end of a rotation to starts. Nance, meanwhile, logged rotation minutes at power forward and center despite only logging 30 total minutes in his entire NBA career prior to Tuesday.
The Sixers have fielded undermanned rotations against superior teams. They have, on very few occasions, played at full strength against extremely weak opponents. But not in years had they played a game in which it was impossible to imagine one team winning before the game had even started.
Despite most — this beat writer included — assuming that the Sixers would have their doors blown off by the NBA's best team defense and individual scorer, the nine players donning red, white and blue played with absolutely no expectation that they were going to be on the wrong end of a blowout.
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• There is a famous adage that there is no such thing as garbage time, no meaningless second of NBA action, when a player has something to prove. Nearly every Sixer who suited up did have something to prove on this night and every single player gave their best on each possession as if they were fighting for their professional livelihood.
• Edwards, a Philadelphia native who had a rough collegiate season as a five-star recruit at Kentucky which led to him going undrafted, notched the first 20-plus-point game of his NBA career as he continues to show he could be deserving of a standard contract in the near future. He looked completely confident in a featured role, just hours after speaking with the media about the surreal nature of his last few weeks as he faces many of the players he idolized as a kid.
• Dowtin, who still has the backing of Nurse despite struggling to impact NBA games as he dominates G League competition, had the necessary runway to flash all of the signs which have led Nurse to believe the Rhode Island product is capable of helping an NBA team.
JDJ ➡️ J3DWARDS pic.twitter.com/ImgMiUE98Q
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) January 15, 2025
• With Edwards, Dowtin and Yabusele leading the way, the Sixers made this a legitimate contest — which seemed like a genuine impossibility when the game tipped off. After Oklahoma City outscored the Sixers 37-21 in the first quarter, Nurse's squad chipped away and away, trimming the deficit down to four points early in the final frame and giving an estimated crowd of 19,771 reason to cheer.
The wheels understandably fell off soon after. MVP frontrunner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander put his foot down, and the Thunder pulled away.
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• Given what was expected of them around 7:10 p.m., the Sixers massively outperformed what anybody could have imagined in this game. Their depth pieces like Edwards and Dowtin showed flashes of promise. With a challenging game looming on Wednesday night which the Sixers should have multiple key pieces back on the floor for, someone could reasonably be pleased with how Tuesday's game went.
The reality, though, is harsher: in the middle of January, nobody has interest in celebrating a moral victory secured by a Sixers team which hoped to win the championship and is now 15-23 on the season.
Up next: The Sixers will get right back to work on the second leg of their home back-to-back, welcoming the New York Knicks to town on Wednesday night.
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