ORLANDO, Fla. — Another night, another undermanned game involving the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Sixers and the Orlando Magic were both without six players for their game Sunday night at the Kia Center, but the hosts found a way to post a come-from-behind 104-99 victory.

The loss dropped the Sixers to 15-22 and marked their fifth setback in seven games. The Magic improved to 23-18.

Tyrese Maxey finished with 29 points, four rebounds, five assists and three steals. However, he didn’t score his first point in the second half until 5 minutes, 44 seconds remained. The All-Star point guard did that on a pair of foul shots to put the Sixers up, 85-82.

Maxey did not attempt a shot in the third quarter before missing his first four attempts in the fourth while shooting 2 for 8. That came after he scored 22 points while making 5 of 11 field goal and going 10 of 10 from the foul line before intermission.

Paul George had 25 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists before fouling out with 2 minutes, 49 seconds remaining.

The Magic went on a 9-2 run after George exited the game to take a 100-96 lead with 1:09 to play. After the teams traded baskets, Maxey missed on a right-wing 3-pointer.

Paolo Banchero drained a pair of foul shots to put Orlando up 104-99 with 9.6 seconds left. After a timeout, the Sixers were called for a five-second violation on their final possession.

Coach Nick Nurse had hoped that Joel Embiid would return Sunday night after missing the previous three games with a sprained left foot. However, the seven-time All-Star center was downgraded from questionable to out before the game.

Caleb Martin missed the game with what the Sixers called right groin soreness. Also out were Andre Drummond (left toe sprain), Kyle Lowry (right hip sprain), K.J. Martin (left foot stress reaction) and Jared McCain (left knee meniscus surgery).

McCain will miss the remainder of the season, while Sunday marked the 10th straight game that KJ Martin missed.

Aside from missing time with COVID-19 during the pandemic, this is the first time that he’s been sidelined.

“I was always durable and willing and making sure I keep my body right to play,” KJ Martin said. “But, obviously this injury is a different type of injury, because it’s just from stress, and probably just me doing a lot in the summertime and carrying over. So it wasn’t like anything specific from me stepping the wrong way or whatever may be for me. So that’s kind of where I get frustrated, to a certain extent.”

Before his injury, KJ Martin was elevated to starting power forward. He was averaging 6.4 points and 3.0 rebounds while providing a lot of energy. He said he hopes to be back soon.

“It’s frustrating for sure,” he said. “Like I said, it’s just an injury based off of a stress reaction. So it’s just you constantly going, which normally is for putting the work in and stuff like that, but now I know going forward, like next summer, OK, I knew what I did last summer. Maybe I need to change how much I’m doing and figure out time to take a day or two off or whatever.”

The Magic were without Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (sore left knee), Gary Harris (left hamstring strain), Jett Howard (left ankle sprain), Jalen Suggs (lower back strain), Franz Wagner (torn right oblique muscle) and Mo Wagner (left knee torn ACL). Then Tristan da Silva left after 61 seconds Sunday with an illness.

Up next

The Sixers will head home to face the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Center. This will be the first of the teams’ two series meetings. The Thunder took the Western Conference’s best record of 31-6 into Sunday’s game against the Washington Wizards.

©2025 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC. Visit at inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.