By: Kylan Watson

After having a couple of days off to figure some things out on both sides of the ball. The Philadelphia 76ers faced the Memphis Grizzlies with a chance to prove that they can string some wins together without Joel Embiid and Paul George. Unfortunately, that day was not today as the Grizzlies used a second quarter explosion to beat Philly 124-107.

Both teams could not find their offensive rhythm early in this game, and it was the Sixers who were finally able to string together cohesive basketball for the first two quarters. Their shots finally started falling and they had the Grizzlies on their heels throughout the first two quarters.

Tyrese Maxey (23 points) and Jared McCain (19 points) dominated this game combining for 42 of the Sixers 107-points in the contest. McCain continues to show that he will be a force off the bench and might even contend for some starting minutes if any injuries show up. He finally got some three-pointers to fall if he can continue to find his offense and become a consistent finisher at the rim. He will be one of the biggest X-factors for the Sixers this season.

This game really started to get away from the Sixers late in the second quarter, Memphis turned up the heat on both sides of the ball and the Sixers just had no answers for it. They were outmuscled for rebounds and outhustled to the 50/50 balls. As a result, that created enough opportunities for Memphis to blow this game wide open, despite the Sixers making sure Ja Morant (18 points) had a limited effect on this game. Jay Huff took full advantage of the Sixers, giving up wide-open threes to make it rain in the center. He scored 20 points off the bench and was creating so much space for his teammates.

Philly has to improve on the defensive end, in the NBA defenses will give up something but it cannot be wide-open three-pointers to newcomers. With them getting ready to travel to the west coast for a full slate of games this week, they have to make shooters work to get open. Otherwise, they will be out of games by the second quarter like they were tonight.

The Sixers will now prepare to face the Phoenix Suns on Monday night, and they cannot give up wide-open shots to their shooters. Additionally, the Sixers will have to continue to create high-percentage shooting opportunities off their ball movement and cash in on them like they did tonight. Joel Embiid and Paul George should be back very soon, but they have to continue to play out of their minds if they want to get their second win of the season on Monday night.