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The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 108-104 on Thursday, beating one of the league's best teams without Joel Embiid. But this victory was about far more for Philadelphia, at least from an organization standpoint, than making a statement against another team with hopeful championship aspirations. Why? The Sixers' win was their first against the Thunder since November 15th, 2008, the latter's debut season in Oklahoma City.
The Sixers have snapped a 19-game losing streak to the Thunder, their first win against OKC (and only second ever) since Nov. 15, 2008.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) March 1, 2019
Talk about a big win.
Tobias Harris was arguably the best player on the floor from the opening tip on Thursday night, playing one of his best games in a Sixers uniform. He scored 32 points on 11-of-19 shooting and 5-of-7 from beyond the arc, adding five rebounds, three assists, one steal, and one block. Jimmy Butler was key for the Sixers, too, stuffing the stat sheet with 20 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists while spending a lot of his night chasing Russell Westbrook. Ben Simmons, meanwhile, was all over for the court for Philadelphia, wreaking havoc on both ends en route to a triple-double of 11 points, 13 rebounds, 11 assists, two steals, and two blocks while taking only nine shots.
The Sixers' star power, even absent their best player, simply overwhelmed the Thunder, who were down an even more viable MVP candidate: Paul George, sitting out with a sore right shoulder suffered in Tuesday's loss to the Denver Nuggets. Westbrook had 23 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists, but shot only 8-of-24 from the field, and Jerami Grant's 23 points of support weren't enough to offset the absence of George 8-of-27 shooting from three team-wide.
