National Basketball Association
Preview
Orlando at Philadelphia
When: 7:00 PM ET, Friday, December 6, 2024
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

After coming up short Wednesday against Orlando, the Philadelphia 76ers will aim to regroup Friday when they once again host the Magic.

Orlando opened its two-game trip to Philadelphia with a 106-102 victory. Franz Wagner did the heavy lifting with 35 points, while the Magic harassed Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey into a tough shooting night.

The Sixers played without two of their top three players as Joel Embiid and Paul George rested their knees, leaving coach Nick Nurse with one All-Star on the court, as well as a group of role players that is also banged up at the moment.

"(Finding continuity without key players) is very difficult," said Nurse, who expects to have George (and, less probably, Embiid) for Friday's contest.

"I hope that we are going to get these guys together at the same time here fairly shortly. And then start working on the continuity. But to your question, it is difficult. Guys are in and out and we're trying to figure it out."

Orlando played without its best player as well, as Paolo Banchero continues to miss time with an oblique injury. Still, the Magic rode Wagner's seventh 30-point game of the season to another victory -- their seventh in the last eight games.

"I really did like their composure," Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said of his team's poise down the stretch. "The communication between each of the guys about where the matchups were, how we were guarding, the different situations we were gonna be in. I just think that they did a great job of listening and paying attention to what the coaches were saying, but also with communicating with one another."

Wagner is averaging career highs in points (24.2), assists (5.7), rebounds (5.6) and steals (1.8) despite playing roughly the same minutes per game as the previous two seasons. His teammates and coaches have been pushing All-Star talk for the fourth-year forward, but he prefers to tune out all that noise.

"(I try to) focus on the stuff that really matters," Wagner said. "Obviously it's really cool to be playing well and to have a good season. Everybody has their own motivation. That's just kind of an add-on for me."

Meanwhile, Philadelphia's top scoring option at the moment is battling through a bit of a shooting slump.

Maxey shot just 7-of-19 from the field (0-for-7 from 3-point range) against Orlando on Wednesday -- the fourth time in the last five games that he made less than 42 percent of his shots.

"They trapped every ball screen," said Maxey, who is 1-of-14 from 3-point range in the last two contests. "That's hard, but that's why Jared (McCain) got downhill. They played drop on him. He got downhill and scored (24 points), he made some 3s. I thought we did a good job, man. I got in the paint, I got guys open shots -- we made some, we missed some. I'm overall happy with the way we played offense."

The Magic are 3-1 on their five-game road trip that has included stops in New York (against both the Nets and Knicks) and now Philadelphia. After Friday's contest, they'll return to Orlando for seven of their next eight games.

--Field Level Media

Stats and Records
Team Comparison
  W/L Strk Home Away Day Night Div Conf
Orlando 16-8 W1 9-0 7-8 1-0 15-8 4-0 13-4
Philadelphia 5-15 L1 2-8 3-7 1-0 4-15 1-2 5-8
Last Meeting
Orlando Philadelphia
Date Away Home Pts Reb FG% Pts Reb FG%
12/4/24 ORL 106 PHI 102 106 42 48.8 102 35 48.8
Player Stats
Previous Matchup
Points Player Total FG% FTM
Orlando F. Wagner 35 52.2 10
Philadelphia J. McCain 24 58.8 1
Rebounds Player Total Off Def
Orlando F. Wagner 7 2 5
Philadelphia J. McCain 7 1 6
Assists Player  
Orlando A. Black 7
Philadelphia T. Maxey 6
Season
Points Player Total FG% FTM
Orlando F. Wagner 602 45.7 118
Philadelphia T. Maxey 390 40.2 69
Rebounds Player Total Off Def
Orlando G. Bitadze 160 58 102
Philadelphia A. Drummond 194 66 128
Assists Player  
Orlando F. Wagner 141
Philadelphia T. Maxey 82
Quickchart Matchup
Orlando Orlando Off vs  Philadelphia Philadelphia Defense
Orlando Off vs Philadelphia - Points For 107.9 Points For
Orlando Off vs Philadelphia - Points Against 111.4 Points Against
Orlando - FG% 45.2 FG%
Philadelphia - FG% 47.9 FG%
Orlando - Reb 42.2 Reb
Philadelphia - Reb 44.8 Reb
Philadelphia Philadelphia Off vs  Orlando Orlando Defense
Philadelphia Off vs Orlando - Points For 105.2 Points For
Philadelphia Off vs Orlando - Points Against 103.0 Points Against
Philadelphia - FG% 43.7 FG%
Orlando - FG% 45.7 FG%
Philadelphia - Reb 39.4 Reb
Orlando - Reb 41.0 Reb