The Sixers were thoroughly humiliated by the Orlando Magic in Tuesday’s NBA Cup clash, falling 144-103 in a game dominated by their stinky, low-effort, disjointed defense. Tyrese Maxey led the way for Philly with 20 points in 32 minutes, and the fact that he managed to remain on the floor that long is perhaps the greatest crime committed during this unwatchable abomination.
Here’s what I saw.
Transition defense? Never heard of it
The Sixers had a brief window where they looked like a competent two-way basketball team. No, not at the beginning of the season, that was just shotmaking wiping everything else away. But after struggling mightily in transition defense for the first week and a half, the Sixers started to make inroads there, communicating better and understanding their roles after the frantic start. There looked to be a team capable of winning on either side of the ball. But Tuesday’s performance against the Magic was an absolute disaster defensively, and perhaps a reminder that they are down a lot of their best defensive talent.
Forget talent for a second. The Sixers had what felt like dozens of effort errors against Orlando, letting the Magic dominate them on the break in a manner reminiscent of the Chris Paul/Blake Griffin era Clippers. Every Sixers miss and turnover felt three times worse because a bucket for Orlando felt nearly guaranteed on the ensuing runout.
Minor mistakes turned into major problems. Andre Drummond had Jalen Suggs on the block, and instead of hitting a drop step and dunk, he threw the ball away, leading to an alley-oop for the Magic on the other end. Tyrese Maxey let Tyus Jones bulldoze through him on an attempted entry and then made no real effort to get back in the play, watching from afar as the Magic scored a bucket on the break. Short misses from Jared McCain and other shooters were punished nearly instantly, and the Sixers didn’t appear to get the memo that the Magic were going to sprint off of their misses.
I’m not sure I have ever been more disgusted on press row at a Sixers game than I was when the Sixers took a timeout in the middle of a huge Anthony Black run, came back on the next possession, and then gave him five feet of space on the perimeter to take (and make) another three. What the hell were they discussing during the timeout? The weather? Paul George’s ankle? Their favorite Thanksgiving sides? Black tied his career high in points by the mid-point of the second quarter. Perhaps you should think about guarding him.
Unlike some people online and in my text messages, I can at least see the initial thought behind playing zone against the Magic. They were dreadful offensively to start the year and traded a huge pick bounty for Desmond Bane in the offseason because they’re devoid of shooting talent. That said, this team is a bad zone team and has been for years. They constantly allow teams to get the ball to the middle, do a poor job of swarming once it’s there, and get hit with both of the primary issues teams face in zone, threes, and offensive rebounds. The initial dare is one thing, but persisting with a style of defense that clearly isn’t working is just insanity. No idea what they were looking at there.
Turnovers were once again an issue for the Sixers, which has become a theme in these shorthanded games. That part of the problem is a little easier to reckon with, as it comes down to players being overextended and trying to create when they should be doing much less in an ideal world. Justin Edwards was at the center of three or four consecutive possessions to open the game, turning the ball over twice, when he should never have to do much outside of spot-up threes and closeout attacks. The cost of all their injuries is felt here, and I feel confident they can avoid the turnover sloppiness with something closer to a full roster.
Playing hard and battling in every game, no matter the deficit or game situation, has been a calling card of this team. But the Sixers are down a couple of the guys who led the way there, namely Kelly Oubre and VJ Edgecombe. Bad nights happen, so we don’t have to rewrite the story of the season so far over a terrible outing.
(Almost) fight night
Is there much from this game actually worth writing about? Let’s talk about the dust-up at the end of the first half that, thankfully, didn’t escalate into an actual fight.
After committing a foul late in Tuesday’s first half, Andre Drummond nearly got into a much worse situation with Wendell Carter Jr. For reasons we’ll have to ask him about after the game, Drummond raised his hands and squared up as if he was ready to fight Carter, who stood back and basically laughed in Drummond’s face, daring him to actually do something. The dreaded third party decided it was time to step in — Jalen Suggs jumped in the mix with a shove, drawing coaches and security personnel onto the court to intervene as Jabari Walker took exception and went after Suggs himself.
The ultimate ruling by the officials was a tech each for the Drummond/Carter/Suggs triumvirate and two techs for Suggs, booting Orlando’s starting guard from the game for his role in escalating the standoff. If I had ultimate say over it, I would have given them all a tech each and moved on, but I can understand why you’d make a point with the guy who nearly made a bad situation a lot worse.
Injury after injury
The Sixers entered Tuesday’s game down Joel Embiid, Paul George, VJ Edgecombe, Kelly Oubre, and Adem Bona. It looks like they may be adding Trendon Watford and Justin Edwards to that list.
Watford’s injury was (and is) an immediate concern, with Philadelphia’s point forward grabbing at his midsection and collapsing in a heap while pushing the pace in transition. Nick Nurse was forced to call a timeout almost immediately, and reviewing the footage, I wouldn’t be surprised if Watford misses real time with this injury.
More bad news for the Sixers.
Looks like a non-contact injury for Trendon Watford, who goes down here grabbing his groin and is immediately helped to the locker room by Kyle Lowry. pic.twitter.com/6pSiLeQw1L
— Erin Grugan (@eringrugan) November 26, 2025
A non-contact injury where you go right to the floor and are ruled out a short time later is as bad as it gets. Watford already missed all of training camp and the start of the season with a hamstring issue.
Edwards also forced a timeout from Nurse after playing through visible discomfort for around 30 seconds or so early in the third quarter. He would eventually take an intentional foul so the Sixers could get an opportunity to sub him out, but Edwards was eventually able to return to the floor. That’s not necessarily an indicator that we’re done with the problem, but it’s better than the Watford situation, at the very least.
At least Jared McCain looks better?
It has been refreshing to see Jared McCain look like, well, Jared McCain over the last few games. This writer wasn’t exactly expecting his career to be over following last season’s injury, but given how little he played and how ineffective he was during his first few games after returning, it looked like it could take a while to get him up to speed.
His first make of the night was easy as you’d like. McCain caught a swing pass from Trendon Watford after a Quentin Grimes drive-and-kick, confidently splashing a catch-and-shoot three above the break to the delight of the crowd. He would hit another in transition later in the first quarter, turning to flex and scream at backcourt mate Tyrese Maxey, fired up at what must have felt like the good times last season.
But the more telling sign of McCain’s comfort is how he looked as a ballhandler attacking tough Magic matchups on the perimeter. He hit Jalen Suggs with a nice hesitation move to get to the rim and score a scoop layup in the second quarter, the sort of move he made with regularity last season and put to rest some of the athletic concerns in his scouting profile. If the speed and intent he showed in this game are back, things will be very fun when Edgecombe is back.
Other notes
— Tyrese Maxey is not typically the guy who puts himself in any trouble with the officials, but he played with some serious fire early in the first quarter, gesticulating at the refs for several minutes over what he felt was a blatant missed call. In fairness to Maxey, I think it was a bad missed call, but make your point, accept your tech, and move on.
— Tyrese Maxey being in this game down 40+ points late in the third quarter is absolutely ridiculous. There was no reason for him to play most of the third quarter. Doing so in light of another in-game injury, already down multiple stars, and with Maxey carrying the league’s biggest minutes workload, is downright irresponsible.
— Johnni Broome got his first chance to play “real” minutes in the third quarter of this absolute beatdown. Johnni Broome also showed why his first “real” minutes came during the meaningful portion of an absolute beatdown. Still mostly confused by that pick, especially from a front office that has drafted super well.
