GRADES: Sixers get back to winning ways vs. Thunder

The Sixers snap their four-game losing streak with a dominant, wire-to-wire victory over the shorthanded Oklahoma City Thunder in Ben Simmons‘ return from the flu.

At this stage in the season, Oklahoma City is not putting a competitive team on the court. Tonight, was no different. Won’t matter at all to the Philadelphia faithful.

Simmons returned with a combined five “stocks” and helped facilitate the offense beyond the box score. His presence pushed the tempo and provided a large uptick in ball movement.

For much of the first quarter, Oklahoma City held tough. They never led in the game, but forward a valiant effort considering many of the players on the court weren’t household names. After Oklahoma City evened the game at 24, Philadelphia closed the quarter on a 10-2 run as they entered the second leading 34-26.

The second quarter took a similar feel to the first, but with less offense. The teams played fairly evenly with Philadelphia maintaining a nearly 10 point lead for most of the quarter before extending their lead to 15, entering the half 60-45.

A 9-2 run to kick off the third quarter pushed Philadelphia’s lead to 22. From there, the game was merely reps in pursuit of an end. Many of the lesser-known names got extended runs as Philadelphia rested their starters. As for Oklahoma City, Ty Jerome led all scorers with 22 points and only one turnover despite the team turning the ball over 29 times as the game eventually settled 121-90.

The Sixers stomp a struggling Thunder team to break out of a four-game slump.

23 mins | 12 pts | 3 reb | 4 ast | 3 stl | 2 blk | 2 TO | 6-8 FG | 0-0 3PT| 0-0 FT | 0 PF | +20 |

Simmons, in his return, reminded Philadelphia fans that his play goes beyond the box score. His defensive leadership, length, and ability to push tempo all coalesced into a strong performance despite the pedantic conventional counting numbers.

14 mins | 9 pts | 11 reb | 2 ast | 1 stl | 0 blk | 1 TO | 3-5 FG | 0-1 3PT| 3-6 FT | 3 PF | +13 |

Dwight Howard filled his role by grabbing double-digit boards and providing well-played minutes as Joel Embiid got some rest.

10 mins | 10 pts | 9 reb | 1 ast | 1 stl | 2 blk | 1 TO | 5-7 FG | 0-0 3PT| 0-0 FT | 0 PF | +0 |

One rebound shy of a double-double, despite playing only 10 minutes. Paul Reed was excellent in a rather pedestrian game. Extended minutes for lesser players aren’t going to be overly meaningful in the playoffs, but they are nice to see when given the opportunity. Reed made the most of his tonight.

18 mins | 6 pts | 2 reb | 1 ast | 3 stl | 1 blk | 4 TO | 2-3 FG | 2-3 3PT| 0-0 FT | 2 PF | +14 |

Matisse Thybulle is starting to get chatter for just how great he is defensively from those beyond Philadelphia. Doc Rivers just recently said he believes Thybulle might be a top-five defender in the NBA. Everyone showed out defensively for Philadelphia tonight. That didn’t matter so much tonight. What does matter… two out of three three-pointers? Thybulle will need to make open shots if he wants to take the next step for Philadelphia this postseason.

12 mins | 11 pts | 1 reb | 4 ast | 0 stl | 0 blk | 1 TO | 5-5 FG | 1-1 3PT| 0-0 FT | 2 PF | +4 |

Tyrese Maxey deserves the full A, but we’re reserving that for Reed. Instead, Maxey will settle for a perfect 5-5 shooting night with four assists in only 12 minutes. Not necessarily a factor come postseason, Maxey should be one of the players making the most of his opportunities. He very much did so this game.

Oklahoma City has been historically struggling since Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went down. The team’s grand plan isn’t inherently against losing, but their losing streak has now reached 14 as they aim to end the streak against the Boston Celtics, tomorrow.

Philadelphia will host the red-hot Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday at Wells Fargo Center as they could potentially be playing to retake first place in the Eastern Conference.