Quick Six: Sixers beat Magic for first win of season without Joel Embiid

The Sixers earned their first win without Joel Embiid of the 2023-24 season, riding Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris to a 112-92 victory over the Orlando Magic.

Here’s what I saw.

A bounce-back outing for Tyrese Maxey

Monday’s Christmas Day game was the worst game of Maxey’s season and arguably the worst game of his Sixers tenure, factoring in his current importance to the team. Early foul trouble in Orlando looked like it could create another mini-slump for Maxey, who has struggled as the No. 1 option during games without Joel Embiid this season. And then the second quarter happened.

Two days after he looked defeated by aggressive, physical coverage, Maxey faced a long and athletic Magic team that should be able to cause him problems. But Maxey did an excellent job of neutralizing Orlando’s length with his speed, and when he did have to try to win the battle of physicality, he often hit first, powering through contact for several and-one makes at the rim. One such make came on a ridiculous scoop shot that only just kissed the backboard, falling in to the delight of Sixers fans everywhere.

Maxey’s confidence was on a different level compared to the Heat game, understandably so, but he also looked a bit better physically in this one. Undeterred by one first-half miss, he managed to take a miss on his initial attempt and deposit two points on a putback before the Magic knew what hit them:

Orlando did a nice job of limiting his playmaking opportunities by trying to force the ball out of his hands quite often, but with the game there to be won in the final minutes, Maxey’s off-ball utility would allow him to deliver the killing blow. Working off Paul Reed, Maxey hit a picture-perfect three while working on the left sideline, sealing Philly’s first W without Joel Embiid.

Tobias Harris was aggressive, even without results

Tobias Harris tends to be a guy you can figure out right away when watching a game. Did the first three go down? Okay, he’s going to continue firing. Otherwise, you’re getting the passive version of Harris that has driven many of us nuts over the years.

It was a pleasant surprise to see Harris keep firing early in this game despite the results. Did he short-arm the followthrough on a shot or two in the first half? I thought so, leading to some attempts that barely reached the rim as he tried to fill his catch-and-shoot quota.

Harris staying consistently involved in the offense would end up paying dividends even if his efficiency was below par for a lot of the night. With the game hanging in the balance midway through the fourth quarter, Harris had some huge buckets to stop the Magic from mounting a comeback, including a corner three after a Nick Nurse timeout and a midrange pull-up to push the lead back to double digits. Drives to the basket paid off for the Sixers even when his shots didn’t drop — Paul Reed was able to deposit a putback on a Harris miss as Orlando got sucked into the paint to stop the initial attacker.

There are certainly more shots to be had with Embiid out of the lineup, but Harris has shown over the last few games that he should never have an excuse to be as uninvolved as he was for the few weeks prior.

De’Anthony Melton made transition layups!

Did he ask for a finishing package on his Christmas list? Whatever happened in this game, keep doing it, my guy.

And we’re burying the lede somewhat, because Melton was one of Philadelphia’s best two-way players in this game, giving them a great lift as a scorer on a night when Kelly Oubre couldn’t buy a bucket.

Mo Bamba, stone feet in space

I would not be shocked to see Mo Bamba get a run of games as Joel Embiid’s backup in the weeks ahead. He has had some good moments this week (and a great game on Christmas), and with the potential for trades in the weeks ahead, it would behoove the Sixers to figure out if their third big is playable over an extended period in case they end up moving either of the non-Embiid bigs pre-deadline.

That being said, there are very obvious limitations for him defensively. Namely, he can’t move and defend in space, which is a bit of a problem at the most important defensive position in basketball.

Franz Wagner gave Bamba hell on 90 percent of the possessions where they were matched up with one another, and Wagner didn’t have to pull out any advanced moves to scoot by Bamba for easy buckets at the rim. Bamba would hang just close enough to Wagner to dissuade him from taking a three, and then glide toward the basket helplessly as Wagner would drive at his chest, coast past him, and score two at the hoop.

Paul Reed, playing in his hometown, was comfortably better than Bamba in this one, chaotic as he can be from time to time.

The duality of Marcus Morris

The rope Morris has had recently has seemed far too long for a player of his current caliber, with the veteran forward nailed into the rotation even on cold shooting nights. Wednesday night, he redeemed his coach’s confidence, serving as a much-needed source of offense with Joel Embiid on the shelf.

With Maxey trying to get rolling in the second quarter, Orlando threw two guys at him at the point of attack and forced Maxey to swing the ball elsewhere. Once the terms of engagement became clear, the Sixers brought Morris over as the screener, and they were able to get some good looks from Morris attacking the four-on-threes, whether he was going off-the-dribble or pulling an open catch-and-shoot three.

That being said, there was a lot of Morris operating in the mid-post, and too many midrange jumpers to justify from a single role player. 14 points on 14 shots isn’t exactly burning down the nets.

Good grief, the off-ball defense

Philadelphia’s defense had stabilized in recent weeks after a rough month or so from the Indiana games onward, but this week has featured some absolutely disgusting work on that end. And when we zoom in on one area, it seems clear that they’re waiting for a Joel Embiid-sized savior to bail them out and finding out in real-time that he isn’t there.

Embiid is an elite backline defender and tends to clean up a lot of mistakes that are made by the guys in front of him with a combination of timing, discipline, and gargantuan size at the rim. Without the big man back there to Hoover up drivers, the Sixers’ inability to track players off-ball has been evident this week. After a poor performance against Miami, things were just as bad to start the Magic game, with Sixers players failing to execute switches, call out cutters, or pay any attention to Jalen Suggs as he kept sneaking in for open looks at the basket.

The Sixers did clean this up a bit after halftime, in part because they played better off-ball defenders (hello, Robert Covington). And we don’t need to lose our minds over some effort/activity woes around the Christmas holiday. But I can guarantee you the coaching staff will light them up in the film room over this sort of stuff.