Well uh, the Sixers did NOT play very well on Sunday vs the OKC Thunder. They hung in there for about 2.5 quarters or so, and then they just got overwhelmed. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was excellent as usual, scoring 27. Chet Holmgren dropped a silly 29 as he was just catching a ton of alley-oops. Even Ajay Mitchell was valuable for OKC as he scored 13 in just twenty minutes.
Maybe if Embiid had played, Embiid could have helped deal with Holmgren but I guess we'll never know, at least on that day of course. The Sixers just across the board were simply outmatched. Tyrese Maxey is the only Sixer who scored well as he dropped 28. The next highest scorer on the Sixers was Quentin Grimes with 13. So yeah not great. Adem Bona led the Sixers in rebounds with just 8 and not a single Sixer dished out more than 5 assists.
I'm sure playing the defending NBA Champions was an eye-opener for the whole roster, especially the young guys. It's not that this Sixers team is playing at a very high level or are expecting a Championship at this point in time, but it still would have been nice to see them be a bit more competitive. Losing by 25 is a bit depressing but perhaps a good reality check.
The Sixers are now 16-14 and in the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference, one spot below a full-on playoff spot, as they enter tonight's contest in Memphis to take on Ja Morant and the Grizzlies. The Sixers are looking a bit lost at the moment with no real momentum and dealing with two identities in that, how they play with or without Joel Embiid.
Is the team better without Embiid? Without George? Both? Maybe but it's hard to officially declare that without more games. Even though the sample size has been rough, I don't think there's been enough time together quite yet to consider this Big Three a fail. I have to admit though, I'm losing a bit of optimism. The Sixers lost without Embiid on Sunday sooooo it's interesting.
There seems to be a fair chance that Maxey, Embiid, and George are playing tonight. Still not 100 percent but it seems likely. If they do, it would be nice to just see a solid victory with them three playing together, just to even see if in theory this will work. Even just for the memories, the history!
The Grizzlies are 15-17, in the better conference. A win over them wouldn't be totally insignificant. I'm also curious to see how the guards in general deal with Ja Morant.