Feb 10, 2026, 5:31 AM UTC
What a game to showcase their depth after the trade deadline.
The shorthanded Sixers wrapped up their West Coast trip with a 135-118 blowout loss to the Portland Trail Blazers Monday night.
Tyrese Maxey carried as much of the load as he could, finishing with 30 and four assists shooting 10-of-21 from the floor. VJ Edgecombe struggled from the field and may have slightly banged up his hip, finishing with 11 points and six rebounds shooting 3-of-12 from the field.
Kelly Oubre Jr put up 19 going 6-of-13 from the floor and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. Toumani Camara had the shooting night of his life, knocking down 8-of-10 from three to go 10-of-12 from the field to tie Maxey as the game’s leading scorer with 30.
Joel Embiid was out with right knee injury management while Dominick Barlow and Quentin Grimes were both late scratches with an illness.
Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.
* Deni Avdija blew past his defender on the first possession of the game, and got the Sixers’ defense to completely collapse on him on his next three, all resulting in open kick-out threes. On the other end, the Sixers opened just as well, with Maxey and Trendon Watford both having early success off the dribble.
* Maxey has gotten open frequently cutting down the lane as of late, and his big man was able to hit him again in the first despite the absence of Embiid. There was one possession that the Blazers got a couple offensive rebounds, but Andre Drummond had four second-chance points early, even if a couple were putting back his own blocked shot.
* Now that the Sixers have gotten rid of their glut of guards, NBA on Prime Video analyst Kyle Lowry was the team’s eighth man in the rotation. The good thing is they were already being beaten off the dribble and were already flirting with zone looks. They rebounded though, ending the quarter on a 9-0 run that was started by an Adem Bona putback dunk and featured Oubre hitting the team’s first three of the night. Maxey also played the whole quarter and dropped 14 as the Sixers jumped out to two-point lead.
* Having one and a half other ball-handlers available was enough for Maxey to at least get a brief break. Watford opened it well with a push shot then Edgecombe got on the board with a trip to the line. Justin Edwards also got his first bucket knocking down a three, and got to the line on the ensuing fast break even if he got a little cute trying to do a reverse dunk.
* MarJon Beauchamp got his first minutes with the Sixers checking in early in the quarter. His first chance at action was cutting to the lane, connecting a Watford post-up to a Drummond three in the corner. A few possessions later he ripped the ball away from Vit Krejci but wasn’t able to come up with the steal. He picked up a second assist catching Maxey’s pass to beat a press and kick it up to Edwards, but missed his first shot attempt unable to connect with Maxey on a lob.
* Portland started the game hot from deep and continued to chuck ‘em up, shooting 42.9% from behind the arc in the first half. That allowed them to slowly eat into the lead and briefly retake it. After taking it back, Maxey nearly followed up an Oubre breakaway with one of his own, but got called for a cheap foul and the Sixers had to settle for a one-point lead at the break.
* For as much as the Sixers held it off to finish the first half, the Blazers ripped off an 18-2 run to begin the second. It was a Maxey three that stopped the bleeding which was fitting, since the Blazers were nearing as many three-pointers made as the Sixers had attempted.
* There’s only so much a timeout could have done as Camara continued to shake free and bury threes coming out of it. When the Sixers were able to muster up some stops they didn’t look to have the firepower to make good on them. Maxey was the only Sixer to record a field goal for an eight-minute stretch, and he only put up six points himself in that time.
* The microphone screeching atop the basket the Blazers were shooting on was appropriate for this game. The Sixers turned the ball four times in a two-minute stretch as they fell completely off the rails. The best sign was Maxey checking out with two minutes left in the quarter just over 26 minutes played, no reason for him to return. Yes, the Sixers played poorly, but even Robert Williams III buried a couple threes on them as the Blazers extended their lead to 26.
* The only thing more heinous than Maxey and Edgecombe still being in the game to start the fourth was Nick Nurse using a challenge to reverse a shooting fall called on Oubre. It did happen to be successful amidst a 12-2 run that would make Chris Paul proud.
* Maxey finally checked out just before the halfway point of the quarter, still somehow logging over 33 minutes on the night. Edgecombe stayed in a minute and half longer to also go over 33, despite favoring his hip after slipping and falling on it in the third quarter. It sure is a good thing they have a glut of guards to withstand a shorthanded night like this.
* Credit to Beauchamp for trying to absolutely posterize Yang Hansen, even if he had to settle for a trip to the line. It’s not a surprise that a guy fighting for his NBA career looked like he had the most legs out there, but he made some good hustle plays both when the Sixers were still in this game and when it was well out of hand.
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