Sixers with costly win over Utah in Tank-off

For many Sixers and Jazz fans, the highlight of the last couple of months has been a good simulation on Tanktathon. Tonight, we were treated to an all-time tank-off with the Jazz and Sixers combining for 36 wins.

In the spirit of losing the Jazz continued their run of form notching their 7th loss in their last 8 games.

Are Adem Bona and Lonnie Walker double agents?

The one night it’d be ok if the team didn’t show up at all, Lonnie Walker suddenly decides to drop 25/11/5, 11 rebounds being the most in his career. Walker and Quentin Grimes were both pivotal in the Sixers’ 35-10 run in the 2nd quarter after coming out completely flat to fall behind 16.

Adem Bona channeled his inner Dikembe Mutombo with a career-high 5 blocks on the defensive end. The entire night the rookie was a force inside the paint injecting life into the team whenever he was on the court. Adem has been a bright spot in this extremely rough season for the Sixers and it will be interesting to see how he performs as the season goes on without Joel Embiid.

swatted that shot. pic.twitter.com/7DXE36iX43

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) March 10, 2025

It’s extremely ironic that going into this season there was all the talk about the non Embiid minutes and now as soon as he’s shut down the bench scores 78 points the 2nd most in team history. Granted this stat is misleading due to the fact that the bench played significantly more minutes than the starters did, but nonetheless still crazy.

Utah’s best performances of the night came from Keyonte George and Kyle Filipowski with 25 each. The Jazz quickly jumped out to a 16-point lead until allowing a 35-10 run. The Jazz played extremely dull from then on until the end of the 4th quarter where they managed to make things interesting, but it would be too little too late.

Don’t sweat it, more games to be lost

The Cooper Flag-off will see major shakeups depending on the results of the next 2 games for the Sixers. They’ll be in Atlanta (30-34) tomorrow and then make the trip up north for the Raptors (21-43) on Wednesday. In terms of the draft lottery, 2 losses would be crucial.

The good news for the Sixers is that the Raptors have sort of caught fire as of late. They had won 3 straight games before taking a 1-point loss last night to Washington (13-49). The Hawks have also been playing well in their last 4 games going 3-1 in that stretch with wins over the Grizzlies, and the Pacers once.

The Sixers sit at 7th in the lottery as of tonight and will need to find a way into the top 6 at the bare minimum to avoid their pick conveying to the Thunder. Not just for our sake but for the sake of the entire NBA to keep the 1 seeded Thunder from having a top-10 pick. They sit just 1 win ahead of the Nets and Raptors for the 6th and 5th spots in the lottery.

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