Thunder outrun injured Sixers in meaningless mid-January exhibition

The Sixers sat all three of their stars in the first half of a back-to-back, with the Oklahoma City Thunder coasting to a 118-102 victory that was in no real doubt for most of the game.

Here’s what I saw.

The Good

— There was one perfect ray of sunshine in this game for Philadelphia, hometown kid Justin Edwards. He has had a lot of success in the G-League in a specialized role, earning some consideration as an NBA rotation player in recent weeks. And with a chance to be a featured player on a banged-up team, Edwards played out of his mind against the Thunder.

The most impressive part of Edwards’ performance was the variety in shotmaking he showed off against the league’s stingiest defense. Philadelphia ran him off a ton of screens to take advantage of his catch-and-shoot ability, but there was an impressive number of pull-up jumpers that he added to that outside shooting. Baseline turnarounds, pull-ups from the middle of the floor, reminders that he was a heavily recruited player out of high school because of his offensive polish at an NBA wing size.

Although the results have not often gone in his favor so far, Edwards is bringing his hard hat to work on the defensive end. Although Jalen Williams would eventually uncork a beautiful fadeaway jumper to end one first-half possession, Edwards effectively stopped him in his tracks for half of the shot clock, twisting and sliding and flashing his hands to keep OKC’s two-way wing from getting to his spot.

More Edwards moving forward, please.

— The Sixers have exactly two feel-good success stories this season. One was Jared McCain, who had a terrific rookie season come to an end as a result of a meniscus injury and surgery. The other is Guerschon Yabusele, who has played well enough that most fans are panicking about losing him or advocating to trade him so that at least the team can recoup something before he walks out the door for free. A tough pill to swallow, but a credit to the Dancing Bear, certainly.

Yabusele is the sort of role player that every Sixers team in recent memory could have used, a smart, physical, skilled player who adapts to his role as needed. On a night when they desperately needed energy to keep hope alive against OKC, Yabusele was a battering ram, setting hard screens and constantly moving to try to find cracks in the Thunder’s defensive structure. Often, the best look came when Yabusele slid himself into a position to shoot, and he continued a good shooting season with a 3/5 night from deep.

You can occasionally see his exasperation at their situation show up on Yabu’s face — he tried to direct traffic on one fourth-quarter possession as they inched toward a sure defeat, and with Pete Nance unsure of where to be, Yabusele let the mask slide off just a bit. But he went right back to work, and left whatever he had out on the floor. He deserves better from his NBA comeback season, that’s for damn sure.

— A pretty good Jeff Dowtin performance! Maybe he can take Reggie Jackson’s minutes for a bit.

The Bad

— The Sixers would have needed a Kelly Oubre masterclass to have any chance in this game. He was 0/7 at halftime.

— Reggie Jackson’s pass before his exit in the third quarter is one of the most insane attempts of the season.

— There sure was a lot of Ricky Council IV in this game.

— Adem Bona should be a G-League-only player this year, I think. Just not ready for this level.

— If there’s a guy who can justify spending seven seconds of a possession complaining to officials about a no-call, it certainly isn’t Eric Gordon.

The Ugly

— The guys on the floor on Tuesday night did not deserve to get booed at basically any point. By and large, the guys who took the floor for Philadelphia have played hard for the team this year, through adverse circumstances, while better-paid players have remained in the shadows. They did that again on Tuesday night. It is not Justin Edwards’ fault that the Thunder walked in and blew the doors off of this team. It is not Adem Bona’s responsibility to try to turn the tide against one of the league’s best teams.

(And to be clear, I don’t think the fans booing at this game were actually expressing their rage at the guys on the floor. Just a reflection of overall frustration.)

Tuesday night is one of many examples of how the “only titles matter” approach many around the league have taken is actively disregarding fans. That deserves boos. That deserves the animosity of the people who show up for this team even when the team hardly deserves it. If the excuse is that back-to-backs force these decisions, the league shouldn’t have those. It makes for a crap product with bad choices that hurts everybody.

Logically, I can understand why you’d pull the rip cord labeled “SIT EVERYONE” when Embiid is already ruled out and Maxey is scratched an hour and a half before the game. There was not a ton to gain from playing Paul George on Tuesday night against the Thunder. Unless you consider that you have a level of responsibility to deliver a compelling product to your fans; that trying to win games even when it looks like the odds are stacked against you is what sports are about; or that there is no way to build any semblance of hope in your fanbase if you are willing to capitulate so easily at the thought of trying to gut it out and play through tough times.

I am not going to turn into an advocate for being irresponsible with player health or here to suggest that if Paul George played, everything would be right in the Sixers’ world. But I do think it says something about the organizational mentality that it was easy to predict he would get late scratched even though he was listed as probable all day on Tuesday. Instead, you passively suggest to fans that his resume and what he might offer you in the future is worth punting games and bailing on the prospect of providing a semi-entertaining product in the short term.

Watching Oklahoma City this season, it is hard to accept the mealy-mouthed excuses coming out of Philadelphia. Sure, the Thunder have had their MVP candidate healthy and productive all year. But they have absorbed injuries to major contributors, including for a spell when they had no healthy bigs, and still managed to persevere through it all. They play hard every night, they take every game seriously, and they reap the benefits of those rewards.

(Of course, it helps to have young, athletic players and more than 1.5 guys on the roster who can dribble. Watching the Thunder run circles around the Sixers in this game underscores how creation-challenged these guys are.)

Said differently, once you decide that you should only care about trying to compete and entertain when it is most convenient for you, you are telling your customers they don’t need to spend their time, money, and attention on you. And it’s clear to me that the city is crossing the anger threshold into apathy. There were Eagles chants starting in the stands 2.5 minutes into the night. The fanbase booed the injury report on the jumbotron before the game. Tickets are being listed for $4 on secondary markets hours before the game. They’re lucky anyone even cares enough to boo right now.

I will be along for the ride this season no matter where it goes, and I hope you continue to read me in this space. But I don’t blame anybody who is reading the bright, neon message the Sixers are offering you if you decide to flip the organization the bird in response. It has been a ridiculous season that continues to get more ridiculous as we get deeper into the year.

— I am honestly asking here: when a team commits its second backcourt violation on an inbound pass in about two weeks, do you blame the players more or the coach? Is it the fault of a team filled with bozos, a coach who isn’t paying close enough attention to details, or some combination of both?

Coming out of a timeout and throwing the ball needlessly into the backcourt is something that would make a coach mad at a decent group of high school players. So I do feel it’s worth reflecting on this and coming to your answer on the subject.