The Oklahoma City Thunder avoided a letdown with a 118-102 win over the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers. It was a crawl to the finish line for OKC in an otherwise strong four-game East Coast road trip.

Despite most — this beat writer included — assuming that the Sixers would have their doors blown off by the NBA's best team defense and individual scorer, the nine players donning red, white and blue played with absolutely no expectation that they were going to be on the wrong end of a blowout.

The Sixers still put up a strong battle led by Tyrese Maxey, but it wasn't enough as they fell to the Magic 104-99 on the road. Maxey had 29 points and five assists in a terrific individual effort, but Orlando received 27 points from Cole Anthony and the Magic used their athleticism to make a difference on the floor in the win.