No SGA, no problem as Thunder crush Sixers
With both teams missing a bunch of players, the Thunder’s depth shone through as they crushed the Sixers Wednesday night.
Sam Presti merely adopted the tank. The Sixers were born in the tank, molded by it.
Philadelphia gave it their all but were still crushed 133-100 by the Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday night. They are 23-46.
Quentin Grimes struggled against the league’s best defense, but finished strong to lead all scorers with 28 points. He shot 10-of-21 from the field.
Justin Edwards finished with 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Chuma Okeke had 14 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. Aaron Wiggins led the Thunder with 26, Isaiah Joe had 21.
The Sixers once again had only nine available players. Guerschon Yabusele returned but Jeff Dowtin Jr. was inactive. Dowtin can only play five more NBA games on his two-way deal. The Thunder sat Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Isaiah Hartenstein and Lu Dort.
Here are some grades at the buzzer.
Quentin Grimes
The Sixers as a team were due for some negative three-point shooting regression. That coming against such a swarming defense made things harder. The Sixers shot 31.6% from three as a team.
With the available personnel, the Sixers were flat out overmatched in terms of height and length. Grimes did his best to create separation, and had a few hot stretches. More often than not he was met with a wall of defenders. Only able to hit one three-pointer before garbage time, it was tough for him to get going with how much the Thunder could take away.
