The Sixers waved the white flag before the game even started. One by one, Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey were all ruled out. Despite that, the depleted Philly squad forced OKC to sweat out a close victory.

The Sixers could not overcome a gigantic difference in manpower Tuesday night against the Western Conference-leading Thunder They fell to a 118-102 loss at Wells Fargo Center, dropping to 15-23 with their third consecutive defeat.

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.

The Oklahoma City Thunder avoided a letdown with a 118-102 win over the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers. It was a crawl to the finish line for OKC in an otherwise strong four-game East Coast road trip.