It took six weeks, but the Philadelphia 76ers finally have experienced the feeling of winning back-to-back games.
The Sixers will go for their third straight win Wednesday night when they host the Orlando Magic for the first of two games this week.
Fatigue could be an issue for both teams, as the Sixers continue to play without Joel Embiid (knee) and are traveling back north after playing Tuesday night in Charlotte.
The Magic, meanwhile, are coming off a five-day trip to New York — all without injured star forward Paolo Banchero (oblique) — and also will play games in different cities on back-to-back nights.
Before dropping a 15-point decision to the Knicks on Tuesday, the Magic had won six games in a row. The last two wins in that stretch were road victories over the Brooklyn Nets in which the Magic allowed an average of 96 points per game.
However, they gave up 121 points against the Knicks — their most points allowed since the third game of the season. The Magic permitted New York to shoot over 50 percent from the field and nearly 43 percent from the 3-point line; plus, 16 Orlando turnovers didn’t help matters, either.
“It’s hard to win a game when you turn the ball over 16 times for 32 points. You’re just giving points away,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said, adding that “you have to flush this one. Obviously you take the lessons from it and … you look at that for (Wednesday) night.”
Franz Wagner led Orlando with 30 points and six assists, as he recovered nicely from a 4-of-17 shooting performance Sunday against Brooklyn.
“Franz continues to make his case for being an All-Star,” Mosely said of the 23-year-old forward.
Speaking of All-Stars, the Sixers have scuffled without Embiid, who continues to deal with knee soreness. Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse said it was unlikely that the former MVP would be available Wednesday.
“We’ll check on Joel,” Nurse said. “I don’t have any real update for you. Don’t expect him to play (Wednesday), but I wouldn’t rule it out yet, either.”
Fortunately for Nurse, his team has two other All-Star talents in Tyrese Maxey and Paul George. Maxey scored the Sixers’ final 11 points in Tuesday’s 110-104 win at Charlotte, helping the team win for just the fifth time in 19 games this season.
“That’s the way to fight, man. We’ve been talking about it all year,” Maxey said. “There’ve been times where we got hit in the mouth, laid down, let teams win games. … Charlotte tried to do it to us tonight. But we were resilient. Guys made plays, made free throws down the stretch, and we won the game.”
Meanwhile, George matched his season high with 29 points after averaging 11 points over the previous four games.
“This is a great win,” George said. “This is another building block for something special that we’re doing now.”
The Sixers and Magic met Nov. 15 in Orlando, where Wagner scored 31 points to fuel the hosts to a 98-86 victory. The teams will play again Friday night in Philadelphia.
–Field Level Media
