The Philadelphia 76ers continue to face injury woes unmatched by any other team other than perhaps the Indiana Pacers. On Tuesday night in NBA Cup action against the Orlando Magic, the 76ers were missing a few key guys, namely: Joel Embiid, Paul George, VJ Edgecombe, and Kelly Oubre Jr. While the Magic were also missing their star man in Paolo Banchero, the 76ers were devastatingly shorthanded and they ended up being demolished by Orlando.
In the second quarter, the Magic thoroughly demolished the 76ers to the tune of a 51-25 quarter. This gave them an 86-60 lead going into the half — with Anthony Black starring amid all the hullabaloo that had Andre Drummond and Wendell Carter Jr. nearly coming to blows. Black, in the first half, scored 27 points on 10-14 shooting, taking advantage of a soft 76ers defense that's been made worse by all their key guys' absences.
Black has been stepping up in a big way for the Magic amid Banchero's injury, and he's not letting a bench role keep him away from contributing on a nightly basis. He's not usually what one would expect to fill up the scoring column, and 76ers fans certainly did not think he was going to destroy Philly the way he did.
“Anthony Black is torching my team Idk what to say,” X user @guytellsjokes wrote.
“Anthony black will never play like this again lol,” @__T__mac added.
“my team is out here making anthony black and jalen suggs look like prime scottie and mj son im in tears,” @LeBlake_James furthered.
Magic are making a run
The Magic have gone 7-3 over their past 10 games heading into their Tuesday night clash against the 76ers. Paolo Banchero has missed the past six games heading into Tuesday, and his absence against the 76ers marks his seventh consecutive, and yet the Magic are turning the corner.
It's far too early to say that the Magic are playing better because of Banchero's absence, not in spite of. That seems to be a very hasty generalization. But Banchero being out has given more opportunities to the likes of Black and Tristan da Silva while freeing up more touches for Franz Wagner and Desmond Bane. And everything seems to be working for Orlando at the moment.
