No SGA, no problem as Thunder crush Sixers

With both teams missing a bunch of players, the Thunder’s depth shone through as they crushed the Sixers Wednesday night.

Sam Presti merely adopted the tank. The Sixers were born in the tank, molded by it.

Philadelphia gave it their all but were still crushed 133-100 by the Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday night. They are 23-46.

Quentin Grimes struggled against the league’s best defense, but finished strong to lead all scorers with 28 points. He shot 10-of-21 from the field.

Justin Edwards finished with 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Chuma Okeke had 14 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. Aaron Wiggins led the Thunder with 26, Isaiah Joe had 21.

The Sixers once again had only nine available players. Guerschon Yabusele returned but Jeff Dowtin Jr. was inactive. Dowtin can only play five more NBA games on his two-way deal. The Thunder sat Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Isaiah Hartenstein and Lu Dort.

Here are some grades at the buzzer.

Quentin Grimes

The Sixers as a team were due for some negative three-point shooting regression. That coming against such a swarming defense made things harder. The Sixers shot 31.6% from three as a team.

With the available personnel, the Sixers were flat out overmatched in terms of height and length. Grimes did his best to create separation, and had a few hot stretches. More often than not he was met with a wall of defenders. Only able to hit one three-pointer before garbage time, it was tough for him to get going with how much the Thunder could take away.

Grade: C-

Justin Edwards

His aggression comes and goes, but it was certainly there early as he had a ferocious dunk for the second straight game. This one was more impressive as he slammed it over Chet Holmgren — he got up to block one of the 7-footer’s jumpers as well. Edwards struggled from three like everyone else, but he had slightly more success inside the arc.

In Houston he really trailed off after a hot first half but was able to get to his spots in the third quarter, despite OKC running away with the game.

Grade: B-

Jalen Hood-Schifino

Speaking of aggression, Hood-Schifino wasn’t nearly as ready to hoist to start. He only took one shot in his first shift. Like every other ball handler, the Thunder defense was able to smother him pretty well, and that only gets harder when no one can buy a three.

Grade: D

Oshae Brissett

It’s a shame that he doesn’t have much touch, because Brissett is a really solid defender. Like some of the other journeymen wings brought in recently, he just seems to be in the right place a lot. He had a nice contest going straight up on Holmgren to force a missed layup.

He couldn’t buy a basket though, even if he was just able to finish cutting layups and runners more it would help his chances of sticking somewhere drastically.

Grade: C+

Chuma Okeke

It’s true that the Sixers had no answer for the Thunder’s height, but Okeke still gave it his best. They were slightly more competitive when he checked in in the first half, and his effort on the glass was a part of that. He was doing it on both ends, finishing with seven offensive rebounds. He was one of the few who could do anything outside, going 4-of-5 from three.

Grade: A

It’s back to Texas as this trip continues. The Sixers next matchup will be against the San Antonio Spurs Friday night at 8 p.m. ET.