Third Quarter
It was not exactly smooth sailing for the Sixers’ offense to start the second half either. They turned it over a few times between Yabu coughing it up and an offensive foul called on Drummond. Even George missed a wide open dunk attempt when Goga Bitadze got out of the way for him.
It was a very quiet first half for Maxey, who only had those three points. He looked for his shot a bit more as the third wore on, but it wasn’t an immediate fix as an extended 12-5 Magic run caused Nurse to call a timeout.
The quarter certainly showed why these are two bottom-10 teams in the league in offense. Neither team shot better than 45% from the field while the Magic turned it over eight times. The Sixers were able to end it on a strong note though. Maxey got a couple layups to fall and found McCain for a three as they took a 12-point lead into the fourth.
Fourth Quarter
Perhaps both teams were just saving the offense for when it really mattered. The Sixers stayed hot with another KJ dunk and a couple of buckets for PG. Orlando proceeded to score on five straight possessions which prompted Nurse to call a timeout.
That timeout did the job in stabilizing things as the Sixers came out of it and pushed their lead back up to double digits. George found Yabu for a corner three and Kelly Oubre Jr. sprang up for a putback dunk on the next possession.
The Magic continued to hit shots to hang around and the Sixers struggles from the free throw line did not help. A Jalen Suggs three cut the lead to four with 54 seconds remaining, then the Magic were able to foul Yabusele who missed both at the line. After Suggs airballed on the next possession, it was Yabusele again who got sent to the line. This time he made both to make it a six-point game with 27 seconds remaining and that ended up being enough to get them over the hump.
The Sixers will hit the road again. Their next game is in Chicago Sunday afternoon taking on the Bulls at 1 p.m. ET. So for anyone who’d rather watch this team than a 10-2 Eagles squad, we here at Liberty Ballers will have you covered.
It’s a cliche for a reason — it’s hard to beat a team twice in a row.
The Sixers got their win back, knocking off the Orlando Magic 102-94 Friday night.
Returning to the lineup, Paul George led the Sixers with 21 points and nine assists. He shot 8-of-19 from the floor and 2-of-7 from three.
Tyrese Maxey had another subpar game for his standards, finishing with 16 points on 5-of-17 shooting.
For the second time this week, KJ Martin had his most points as a Sixer. He finished with 20 points on 9-of-10 shooting along with three rebounds. Franz Wagner again led all scorers with 30.
While Andre Drummond returned to the lineup after a two-game absence, Adem Bona joined the line of injured centers unable to suit up for the Sixers. Nick Nurse opted to go back to the same starting lineup before Drummond got hurt, the one that sent Jared McCain to the bench.
Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.
First Quarter
A fair amount of iso ball to start this one from the Sixers as George took their first four shots of the game, knocking down a couple from the midrange. He opened things up for the offense once he got his legs under him — he found Guerschon Yabusele for an and-1 and Maxey got on the board with a catch-and-shoot three.
It was an especially strong start for KJ Martin, who was part of the first substitution group of the night. He got on the board with an and-1, then knocked down a corner three moments later. It wasn’t necessarily a contested three, but he didn’t have all day to get it off like most of his attempts this season. He also impressively caught a full-court lob from George as he had 10 in the opening quarter.
Someone who as off to an even better start than Wednesday was Franz Wagner, who went for 15 points in the first. Even with a bigger starting lineup, nothing the Sixers threw at him stopped him early.
It was a slightly different story for McCain however. He did find Martin for his corner three, but had two turnovers to match his two assists and only took one shot that he missed. He did find Martin again in the dunker spot to cut the Magic lead to two after the first.
Second Quarter
Caleb Martin looked to roll his ankle in the first quarter and briefly went back to the locker room. He got back out there a few minutes into the second but with all the injuries he’s racking up, it might be best to stop trying to play through all of them.
Regardless, it was a great start to the quarter for the Sixers as it took the Magic almost four minutes to get their first points of it. Drummond was bullying Moe Wagner around, both getting to the basket and on the offensive glass. A transition three from George capped off a 10-0 run, prompting a Magic timeout.
While Franz Wagner was getting his, Orlando had no offensive production anywhere else. Halfway through the second and the rest of their starting lineup had only made two field goals. The Magic shot 0-of-13 from three and 19% from the field in the second.
The quality of shots the Sixers were generating didn’t get any worse to close the half, but they did start missing more open shots. They made only two field goals over the final 5:12, but the second was a wide open layup for Yabusele as time expired to give the Sixers a nine-point lead at the break.
Paul George led all Sixers with 21 points which was good enough to lift the team to a win over the red hot Magic.
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