Philadelphia 76ers Beat Orlando Magic 96-87

The Philadelphia 76ers entered tonight’s road game as seven point underdogs, but still managed to muscle out a win.

First Quarter
Ish Smith, JaKarr Sampson, Robert Covington, Nerlens Noel, and Jahlil Okafor were the starters for the Sixers, and Elfrid Payton, Evan Fournier, Tobias Harris, Channing Frye, and Nikola Vucevic were the starters for the Orlando Magic. The Sixers started the game turning the ball over three times in the first four minutes of the game with Noel, Smith, and Covington all having a turnover a piece. The Sixers rim protection was nonexistent for most of the quarter allowing the Magic to consistently get easy layups or draw fouls. Covington’s recent return to good shooting went on vacation again as he started the game with zero made three point shots on three attempts. The Sixers were down 20-10 with 4:02 left in the quarter, but made a comeback when Brett Brown took Okafor out of the game, moved Noel to center, and put in Isaiah Canaan and Hollis Thompson. This lineup helped the Sixers end the quarter with a 23-21 lead over the Magic.

Second Quarter

Noel suffered an ankle injured within the first two minutes of the second quarter forcing him to put Okafor into the game. According to Brown’s recent coaching philosophy, this would potentially kill the Sixers’ chance at winning, looking at how he neglected to play Okafor after the third quarter in a double overtime loss to the New York Knicks on Monday. All kidding aside, Okafor was having a good game. He scored the most points in the first half with 14 points, but had three turnovers and only two rebounds. Ish Smith was also having a solid game with 11 points on five of ten shooting and 4 assists with only 2 turnovers. Vucevic led the Magic in scoring with 12 points making six of his nine shots and tied Noel in total rebounds with 8 in the first half. The Magic ended the second quarter with three less turnovers than the Sixers. The Sixers three point shooting was superior to the Magic going into halftime, with the Sixers making four out of ten shots and the Magic making one out of nine shots. The Sixers lead the Magic 47-46 at halftime.

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Third Quarter

Sampson was injured at some point in the first half and didn’t return to the game. Noel, who was injured in the second quarter did return to the game a few minutes after his injury, but was a no show on the court and bench when the third quarter started, and never returned to the game due to a headache that might’ve been caused by anxiety. Covington made his first three early in the third quarter and made a second one about 30 seconds later. The Sixers didn’t miss a shot in the third quarter until about halfway through the quarter. The third quarter showcased the Sixers’ improved bench play in recent games with Canaan, Jerami Grant,and Thompson scoring at least 10 points each. Thompson was having an especially good game scoring 15 points on eight of ten shooting, three of five from the three point line, and two shots that appeared to be worth 3 points on first glance but were 2-pointers so long that Thompson would have a permanent starting job with the Doug Collins era Sixers. The Sixers were beating the Magic 81-71 entering the final quarter.

Fourth Quarter

The Philadelphia 76ers are no longer perfectly defeated when playing against Eastern Conference teams, as they managed to beat the Magic 96-87. Despite Payton scoring 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 10 assists, the Sixers managed to hold on to their lead with clutch shots from Canaan and Okafor down the stretch. With the Sixers finishing the game with only one more turnover than the Magic and shooting 47.4 percent from three, only an fourth quarter collapse could make the Sixers lose this game, and shockingly it didn’t happen. The Sixers improved to 6-38 for the season and the Magic dropped to 20-21.

Player of the Game

While I was tempted to make Ish Smith player of the game for his 13 points and 11 assists, I’ll give it to Okafor for playing good enough defense that his presence didn’t hurt the team in the final minutes in the game. He scored 20 points and grabbed 5 rebounds.

The Sixers play the Boston Celtics on this Saturday at 7:00pm, and the Sixers are improving fast enough that fans should start worrying that the Sixers might eventually pass the Los Angeles Lakers for top lottery position.