Paul George fouls out and the shorthanded Sixers see a game slip away against the Magic
Orlando was missing six players because of injuries, just like the Sixers. The Magic dealt them their fifth loss in seven games.
ORLANDO — Another night, another undermanned game involving the 76ers.
The Sixers and the Orlando Magic were both without six players for their game Sunday night at the Kia Center, but the hosts found a way to post a come-from-behind 104-99 victory.
The loss dropped the Sixers to 15-22 and marked their fifth setback in seven games. The Magic improved to 23-18.
“Listen, that was a tough one,” coach Nick Nurse said when asked about the Sixers’ morale. “But I thought we played our guts out. I don’t think we played great tonight. We start the half with like four straight turnovers, but they’re super engaged and playing really hard.
“But yeah, it was tough. I give the guys that were out there credit. We stay hopeful that some of the other guys and bodies will get back. But these guys, I thought, gave everything they had tonight.”
Tyrese Maxey finished with 29 points, four rebounds, five assists, and three steals. However, he didn’t score his first point in the second half until 5 minutes, 44 seconds remained. The All-Star point guard did that on a pair of foul shots to put the Sixers up, 85-82.
Maxey did not attempt a shot in the third quarter, then missed his first four attempts in the fourth, when he finished 2-for-8. That came after he scored 22 points while making 5 of 11 field goals and going 10 of 10 from the foul line before intermission.
Paul George had 25 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists before fouling out with 2:49 remaining. After George left the game, the Magic went on a 9-2 run to take a 100-96 lead with 1:09 to play.
“I think [fouling out] put a lot of pressure on guys,” said George, who called fouling out frustrating. “It put a lot of pressure on Tyrese down the stretch. I wish I was out there to kind of negate that.”
After the teams traded baskets, Maxey missed on a right-wing three-pointer.
Paolo Banchero (20 points) drained a pair of foul shots to put Orlando up 104-99 with 9.6 seconds left. After a timeout, the Sixers were called for a five-second violation on their final possession. Cole Anthony scored 27 points to lead the Magic.
“We just ran that play for Tyrese and we were just going to the next option on it,” Nurse said. “And it was for [Guerschon Yabusele] to pop back. They did a pretty job of holding it up and switching everything.”
This was a competitive game, one with nine ties and seven lead changes. The Sixers led by as many as nine points, and the Magic held an eight-point lead.
“They played consistently all game,” Kelly Oubre Jr. said. “Whether it was a good game, a nasty game, a win is a win no matter how you get it even though they were playing nasty, too, a lot of spurts. But they just stayed consistent.
“And I think we were a little too up and down tonight. I think they had more assists [23 to 17] than us, more rebounds [41 to 29], things like that. They beat us in all these categories, like you really can’t expect to win.”
Nurse had hoped that Joel Embiid would return Sunday night after missing the previous three games with a sprained left foot. However, the seven-time All-Star center was downgraded from questionable to out before the game.
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Caleb Martin missed the game with what the Sixers called right groin soreness. Also out were Andre Drummond (left toe sprain), Kyle Lowry (right hip sprain), K.J. Martin (left foot stress reaction), and Jared McCain (left knee meniscus surgery).
McCain will miss the remainder of the season, while Sunday marked the 10th straight game that Martin missed.
Aside from missing time with COVID-19 during the pandemic, this is the first time that he’s been sidelined.
“I was always durable and willing and making sure I keep my body right to play,” Martin said. “But, obviously this injury is a different type of injury, because it’s just from stress, and probably just me doing a lot in the summertime and carrying over. So it wasn’t like anything specific from me stepping the wrong way or whatever may be for me. So that’s kind of where I get frustrated, to a certain extent.”
Before his injury, Martin was elevated to starting power forward. He was averaging 6.4 points and 3.0 rebounds while providing a lot of energy. He said he hopes to be back soon.
“It’s frustrating for sure,” he said. “Like I said, it’s just an injury based off of a stress reaction. So it’s just you constantly going, which normally is for putting the work in and stuff like that, but now I know going forward, like next summer, OK, I knew what I did last summer. Maybe I need to change how much I’m doing and figure out time to take a day or two off or whatever.”
The Magic were without Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (sore left knee), Gary Harris (left hamstring strain), Jett Howard (left ankle sprain), Jalen Suggs (lower back strain), Franz Wagner (torn right oblique muscle), and Mo Wagner (left knee torn ACL). And Tristan da Silva left after 61 seconds Sunday with an illness.
Up next
The Sixers will head home to face the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Center. This will be the first of the teams’ two series meetings. The Thunder improved their Western Conference-leading record to 32-6 with Sunday’s 136-95 win at Washington.