By Andrew Curran (@andrewjc417)
Orlando 105, Philadelphia 88 – Box Score
From the 17th row of the Wells Fargo Center Friday night, I waited in anticipation for my first live viewing of Joel Embiid. I have been to two previous Sixers games in recent years and the total point differential had been somewhere around -35. I assumed that would all change in this game against a struggling Orlando Magic team that entered play 7-12. Sadly, I was wrong, and ultimately, the 76ers fell 105-88 on a night where they just couldn’t find the bottom of the hoop.
The first quarter did not start off well for the home team, as the Sixers hit just 6 of their first 26 shots, and took around 10 minutes to get into double figures. Early in the first, Joel Embiid missed what would have been a monstrous dunk with the Center ready to explode. He struggled inside at times initially, but was crisp from beyond the arc, hitting 3-5 from long range on the night.
Defensively, the coaching staff had Embiid double guards surprisingly quickly and often. The net effect of this move was about zero, the Sixers didn’t come up with many steals, but the Magic rarely got easy buckets either. Nonetheless, it is great to see Joel recognizing when he can and can’t double on defense.
Jahlil Okafor once again looked destined for another poor defensive game. Early on, he gave his man too much room to operate, and this made life easy for his assignment. All that room either allowed the offensive player to get open shots, or caused the perimeter defenders to collapse in and give the Orlando wings open looks. Also, he lost his man completely a few times, the most obvious of which led to a TJ McConnell on Nikola Vucevic mismatch in favor of Orlando.
Luckily, Okafor stepped up quickly and appeared, dare I say it, adequate for the rest of the game defensively. He had two wonderfully timed blocks in the first, and appeared to give a damn. Somehow, after a horrendous quarter of shooting the ball, the Sixers trailed by just 7.
In the second, we got to see Embiid and Okafor play together, something we had only seen for a few minutes entering the night, but coach Brett Brown said he would try more moving forward. Many Sixers fans cringed when they saw the duo take the court simultaneously, but interestingly, it did not result in full blown failure. Embiid dominated as usual, and Okafor played with as much energy during this 5 minute stretch as he did during any other shift in this young season.
Jahlil had some nice finishes after a shaky start, and nearly had an awe-inspiring block at the rim, but it was too good to be true, the refs called a pretty horrendous foul on McConnell to negate the block. As a whole, Okafor impressed tonight, shooting 80% from the floor (8-10 for 16 points), and scrapping for an inspiring, season-high 13 boards, 6 coming on the offensive side.
After being down only 8 at the break, the wheels fell off the wagon for Philadelphia in the second half. They were outscored by 13 during the third, partly due to a lackluster start. The Magic drained threes at will the whole second half, making a mind-boggling half of their 26 attempts from long range on the evening.
On the bright side, Embiid got his inside game going, flashing some nice, hard moves off the dribble. But the final frame displayed more of the same, the Magic seemed to be playing with a wider basket than the Sixers. Perhaps someone replaced the Sixers net with one of those thin hoops they have in the carnival games. Things were that bad, like Tim Frazier era bad (and not New Orleans Tim Frazier). Philadelphia shot a gag-inducing 37.9% on the night, to go with a horrid 28.1% from distance.
Other than the two bigs, everyone else left a lot to be desired. Robert Covington had a decent game prior to his late injury, connecting on 3 of 7 of his threes. Ersan Ilyasova had, at best, a below average day. After showing so much promise thus far, Saric and Stauskas were non-factors. Finally, we saw more of the same from Gerald Henderson (9 points) and Sergio Rodriguez (8 points, 7 assists). One silver lining was that the Sixers had only 10 turnovers, much better than their average of roughly 17.
While my first Joel Embiid experience didn’t go quite as I hoped, he certainly showed me enough make a return trip inevitable. The Sixers are right back in action Saturday night against the Celtics, although those unfortunate fans will not get to see The Process in action.
Other Game Notes:
- The 76ers organization does such a good job of keeping the live experience entertaining despite large deficits and bad records. It is well worth the price of admission.
- The song “Wicked” by Future was blasted on the arena’s speakers after the majority of Embiid’s buckets. No other player got music after their made shots.
- As mentioned, Robert Covington left the game late with an injury after colliding with TJ McConnell (later diagnosed as a knee sprain). The severity remains to be seen.
- Aaron Gordon can ball. He was all over the court, finishing with 20 points on 9-14 shooting. (Editor’s Note: Now, if only the Magic would wise up and play him at power forward where he belongs.)
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