PHILADELPHIA — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder busted the Philadelphia 76ers' strong defense. In an embarrassing 133-114 loss, the Sixers got demolished despite an efficient scoring night from Joel Embiid.
Gilgeous-Alexander scored 37 points on 10-16 shooting from the field and 16-16 shooting from the free-throw line. He dominated the game but many of his teammates had strong performances, too. Josh Giddey tallied 20 points and eight assists while Jalen Williams and Tre Mann each scored 14 points. The Thunder shot 51.2 percent from the field and lit up the Sixers worse than any other team has done so far this season.
“Couldn’t guard the ball, all of us,” Embiid said when asked what went wrong defensively for the Sixers. “They got whatever they wanted.”
Doc Rivers said the same exact thing following the game. The Sixers' head coach said that the Thunder “lived in the paint. They got whatever they wanted. I thought they came with the right spirit and we didn’t…Shai beat our best defenders tonight, over and over again…If you're not prepared to play this team, you know lose to them, and I didn't think we were ready tonight.”
Embiid made things easy for the Thunder by getting in foul trouble. Rivers opted not to push it when Embiid had three fouls in the first half and he ended up playing only 27 minutes. “I got in foul trouble, so I played like 30 seconds in the second quarter. They got the big lead going into halftime and from there we just kept chasing,” Embiid said.
Although the Sixers are a good defensive team, they have to figure out how to defend again with both James Harden and Tyrese Maxey in the starting lineup. This is the fourth time in the last eight games that they have given up at least 120 points. Although tonight's loss is in no way squarely their fault, it's a readjustment the Sixers will have to make.
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