The Sixers trailed by 21 points after the first 9:30 of “action,” by 16 after one quarter and watched the Thunder hit 13 of their first 15 shots from the field. A very MVP-like 32 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and 24 from Jaylin Williams eventually asserted the Thunder’s obvious superiority.

The Philadelphia 76ers were without Joel Embiid, Paul George, Tyrese Maxey, Caleb Martin, Andre Drummond and Kyle Lowry for Tuesday night's matchup

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points, Jalen Williams had 24 and Cason Wallace pitched in 18 as the Thunder beat the short-handed 76ers on Tuesday.

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.