The Philadelphia 76ers got back in the win column with a 107-99 win over the Orlando Magic. The undermanned Sixers faced another disadvantage against Paolo Banchero and Bol Bol's young squad: height. A small starting frontcourt of P.J. Tucker and Montrezl Harrell made the Magic's already big lineup look even bigger.
One stat that was very telling at the break was points in the paint. The Magic scored 32 of their 56 points in the paint in the first half while the Sixers got only 18 points in the paint. Bol led the effort to take advantage of Orlando's massive height advantage, scoring 15 points on 7-8 shooting from the floor.
Doc Rivers knew his team needed to step up, so he challenged his guys. The Sixers responded with a strong second-half performance to take the win.
“That was all we talked about at halftime,” Rivers told reporters in Orlando after the game. “Just because most of the players in the NBA are so talented, they’re so used to just turning and rebounding. But when you play a big team, you can’t do that. We told them at halftime: every shot, go backwards. Go away from the rim. Go find somebody. Go hit somebody. There were four times in the second half where the ball dropped on the floor and somebody else got it. And I thought that showed us boxing out.”
In the second half, the Sixers outscored the Magic in the paint 22 points to 16. They also outrebounded them 26 boards to 15. Orlando may have had the size but Philadelphia had the muscle and put it to good use in the second half. Good defense from guys like De'Anthony Melton, P.J. Tucker, Paul Reed and Tobias Harris was also a key factor.
Led by that improved physicality and another brilliant performance from Shake Milton, the Sixers improved to 10-9 on the season with a Sunday matchup against the Magic on deck.
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