Sixers vs. Magic takeaways: Lacking finish, Embiid still has love for Fultz, and Thybulle needs minutes

The 76ers are far from a finished product.

Joel Embiid still has love for Markelle Fultz. And Matisse Thybulle needs to play more meaningful minutes.

These three things stood out during Monday’s 119-109 loss to the Orlando Magic at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Sixers (32-17) headed into Monday’s game as the NBA’s hottest team. They had a seven-game winning streak and had won 20 of 24 games. So during his pregame media availability, coach Doc Rivers was asked what’s the No.1 thing he tries to stress to the guys when they’re playing so well.

“That we have to get better,” he responded.

The need to get better became painfully obvious after their setback to the Magic (20-31). The biggest thing the Sixers need to work on is sustaining their level of play through four quarters.

They blew a commanding 21-point, first-half lead en route to taking a 10-point loss to the Eastern Conference’s third-worst team.

“I think we did a really good job from the beginning of the game,” James Harden said, “seeing how we wanted to play, how we wanted to control the game. They didn’t make shots in the beginning. Then in the second half, they did.

‘For us, it’s just imposing our will [for] the entire game. We didn’t do a good job of that tonight.”

They didn’t even come close.

The Sixers lacked effort following the first quarter. They looked more like a team waiting for the referees to bail out their players than a squad ready to mix it up with the Magic. Defenders stood around and watched Orlando rookie Paolo Banchero finish with 29 points and nine rebounds.

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Embiid had 30 points and 11 rebounds. But he didn’t come close to matching the energy level he played with while finishing with 47 points and 18 rebounds against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday.

Asked specifically if Embiid didn’t play with any physicality in the second half, Rivers said he felt the whole team didn’t play with any during that time.

“The ball didn’t move,” Rivers said. “I didn’t think we played with any pace. I thought their pressure, their physicality, I thought they got into us. They denied, we turned the ball over. We were flopping, trying to draw fouls the whole half.

“I just thought we turned it off and couldn’t get it back.”

Fultz finished with 12 points and game highs of 10 assists and four steals in first game back at The Center since being traded to Orlando on Feb. 7, 2019.

“I’ve always been a big fan,” Embiid said of Fultz, who the Sixers selected with the first pick of the 2017 draft. “When we traded him, I was disappointed because I felt like we were giving up on him too early.”

Despite Fultz’s shooting woes as a Sixer, Embiid thought his former teammate was amazing. That’s because of Fultz’s playmaking ability.

“He gets guys easy shots,” Embiid said. “You know there’s a reason why they’re a good team. Obviously, they drafted a great rookie [Banchero] who’s going to be a really good player in this league. But I think everything also runs through Markelle.

“They are better than what their record says. And they wouldn’t be there without the impact that he has.”

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One of the Sixers’ few highlights was playing zone defense with Thybulle on the floor.

“The first quarter we went zone and it was really good,” Rivers said. “That’s what stretched the lead for us in that little stretch.”

Rivers said the zone slowed the Magic down.

But the Sixers tend to go zone late in the first quarters.

“We just like that group that’s on the floor,” Rivers said. “We just feel like that’s a good zone group, especially when Matisse is in the game. We don’t do it a lot because he and [De’Anthony Melton] aren’t on the floor together. But when they’re on the floor together, that’s our best zone group. But any time Matisse is on the floor, it’s a good zone group.”

But any time Thybulle is on the floor for extended minutes has been good for the Sixers this season.

And Monday was no different.

The guard finished with 10 points on 3-for-5 shooting, including making 2 of 3 three-pointers. Thybulle also had two steals and was a plus-6 in 11 minutes, 19 seconds.

P.J. Tucker has started all 47 games he’s played in this season for the Sixers. However, there are some who’ve argued that Thybulle should start in his place.

That’s because the Sixers are 54-24 with the 25-year-old in the starting lineup. Out of those 78 games, Thybulle has only gone scoreless 11 times. Tucker’s critics will point out Monday marked the 15th game the 37-year-old has failed to score a point this season. But his supporters will tell you he brings a lot of intangibles that don’t show up on a boxscore.

The thing is Thybulle needs to play more minutes.

Best performance: This goes to Banchero. The power forward made 3 of 5 three-pointers and had a block and a steal in addition to 29 points and nine rebounds. Fourteen of his points came in the third quarter.

Worst performance: I had to give this to Tucker. He had a tough time on both ends of the floor. He had three fouls and four rebounds in 27 minutes, 56 seconds.

Best defensive performance: This goes to Fultz, who tied for his second most steals in a game this season.

Worst statistic: This goes to the Magic’s first-quarter shooting. They shot 25.9%, including making 1 of 8 three-pointers.

Best statistic: This goes Orlando’s third-quarter shooting (61.5%).