3 76ers takeaways from preseason finale vs. Magic
The Philadelphia 76ers concluded their stuffed slate of preseason games with a matchup against the Orlando Magic. The Sixers were without their key players against a full-strength Orlando team and lost 114-99.
Preseason has not been kind at all to the 76ers, leaving Paul George and Jared McCain with injuries that could make them unavailable to start the season. McCain, fortunately, seems to be making good progress from the pulmonary contusion he suffered last game. The statuses of himself, George and Joel Embiid for the season opener are surely in the process of being determined. Tyrese Maxey and other Sixers regulars played in this one, though Maxey left early.
Here are three takeaways from the Sixers’ preseason finale.
1. Maxey exits first quarter with thumb injury
Early in the game, Maxey started favoring his left hand and was subbed out after five minutes, the first substitution made in the game. Unlike other early subs from Nick Nurse, he was the only player to come out. The 76ers announced that Maxey suffered a right thumb contusion, sidelining him for the rest of the game.
The Sixers would have been better off not playing Maxey to begin with. Any plans of having a dress rehearsal were dashed when George was ruled out. McCain’s absence made them thinner at guard but letting Maxey play was a high-risk move with little reward. He’s someone who doesn’t need to ramp his way up; some of his best performances from last season came after multi-game absences.
The Sixers could have waited to waive the four players they had on exhibit-10 deals (Judah Mintz, Isaiah Mobley, Jordan Tucker and Max Fiedler) until after this game, giving them more bodies. Even with the decision to cut them after Wednesday’s game, they could have — and with the benefit of hindsight, should have — kept Maxey out to avoid any injury risk. Clearly, the team was hoping that it would shed its recent injury misfortunate and wanted to take advantage of all its exhibition games to get the new roster to mesh.
At the very least, the Sixers shut Maxey’s night down at the first sign of injury.
2. Eric Gordon starts over Caleb Martin again
It sure seems like Martin will maintain a bench role and Gordon will start next to Maxey to start the season. That’s been Nurse’s move for the preseason’s final games, so it feels safe to assume that that’s how it will go when the games start to matter.
Gordon showed his deep range again with an early triple. It’s easy to see how such elite shooting will work wonders alongside three ball-dominant stars but he still imposes limitations on the starting group, namely that either he or Maxey would have to defend the best opposing guard. It also leaves Kelly Oubre Jr. to guard someone bigger, which is less his forte.
Martin, meanwhile, is still a capable shooter, more functional on the ball and much more impactful on defense. He can simply do more than Gordon, whose shooting is legitimately great but not so great that it outweighs his weaknesses. Caleb didn’t shoot very well in this game but remains a versatile, athletic piece of Philly’s supporting cast.
Another lineup decision of note: KJ Martin started again. He guarded Paolo Banchero to open the game, confidently hit a triple from near the break of the arc, picked up a pair of steals and shot 4-7 on the night, scoring nine points.
3. Oubre takes it slow but finds success
After serving as a great transition scoring threat, Oubre slowed things down, stayed patient and came away with some nice buckets in the paint. He led all players at halftime with 17 points on 6-10 shooting and tallied four rebounds and two assists.
K-9 was responsible for the biggest highlight of the game when he drove down the lane and slammed it down. He got the screen from Andre Drummond but waited a beat, keeping a drop-coverage-playing Wendell Carter Jr. in place. That allowed Oubre to dart by him for the jam.
KELLY UBRE pic.twitter.com/I8wpEj9p2Y
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) October 18, 2024
After that, Oubre made a few lefty floaters and drew a foul on Jonathan Isaac. He looked composed, scoring through the tough Magic defense. None of his three attempts from deep found the bottom of the net (which isn’t great) but his interior scoring looked poised against a stingy defensive team. That’s pretty promising.
The 76ers will host a public, intrasquad scrimmage on Sunday at noon at the Chase Fieldhouse, the home of their G League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats. Then, it’s off to the regular season, starting with a home game on Wednesday against the Milwaukee Bucks.
The post 3 76ers takeaways from preseason finale vs. Magic appeared first on ClutchPoints.
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