In a crazy first half, Anthony Black is cheered by the 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers continue to deal with injury problems that no other team has except maybe the Indiana Pacers. On Tuesday evening at NBA Cup action against Orlando Magicthe The 76ers were missing a few key guysnamely: Joel Embiid, Paul George, VJ Edgecombe and Kelli Oubre Jr. While the Magic were also missing their star player in Paolo Bancher, the 76ers were devastatingly underwhelmed and eventually got blown out by Orlando.
In the second quarter, the Magic thoroughly destroyed the 76ers to the tune of a 51-25 quarter. This gave them an 86-60 halftime lead — with Anthony Black acting amidst all the hubbub he had Andre Drummond and Wendell Carter Jr. they almost collide. Black scored 27 points on 10-14 shooting in the first half, taking advantage of a soft 76ers defense made worse by all the absences of their key guys.
Black stepped up in a big way for the Magic due to Buncher’s injury, and he doesn’t let his bench role stop him from contributing on a daily basis. He’s not usually what you’d expect to fill the scoring column, and 76ers fans certainly didn’t think he’d destroy Philly the way he did.
“Anthony Black fires up my team, I know what to say,” Ks user @guitellsjokes wrote.
“Anthony Black will never play like this again lol,” @__T__mac he added.
“My team is here making Anthony Black and Jalen Suggs look like Prime Scotty and my son in tears,” @LeBlake_James further.
Magic rushes
The Magic are 7-3 in their last 10 games heading into Tuesday night’s matchup against the 76ers. Paolo Banchero has missed the last six games starts Tuesday, and his absence against the 76ers marks his seventh straight, yet the Magic are turning a corner.
It’s too early to say that the Magic are playing better because of Buncher’s absence, not in spite of it. That seems like a very hasty generalization. But Bancher’s absence has given the likes of Black and Tristan da Silva more opportunities, while freeing up more touches for Franz Wagner and Desmond Bain. And everything seems to be working for Orlando right now.
2025-11-26 03:35:00
