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.

"We weren’t a 48-minute team tonight, but I never take for granted the effort it takes and the concentration to win an NBA game," Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. "I thought we started the game really well,

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points on 12-of-15 shooting to guide the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder to a 118-102 win over the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday.