Sixers melt down late, have win streak snapped by Kings in ugly loss

New year, same old nonsense, huh?

After leading for 23 of the 24 minutes in the second half, the Sixers fell to the Sacramento Kings 113-107 Wednesday night. They did not score in the last 3:34 of the game and had nine fourth quarter turnovers.

Paul George led the Sixers with 30 points, shooting 11-of-20 from the floor. He also had eight rebounds and five assists but had several costly turnovers down the stretch and fouled out with six seconds remaining.

Tyrese Maxey finished with 23 points shooting 10-of-23 from the floor. De’Aaron Fox led all scorers with 35 points.

Joel Embiid and Kelly Oubre Jr. were out due a left foot and hand sprain, respectively.

Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.

First Quarter

• Sacramento was off to a fairly quick start. Domantas Sabonis went right to work against a small-ball Sixers starting lineup. He scored or assisted 10 of their first 15 points. Starting in place of Oubre, Kyle Lowry had trouble getting passes over defenders. He sailed a post entry pass to Guerschon Yabusele, and would have thrown the first pass of the game into the scorer’s table had Maxey not saved it.
• Maxey was flying all over the place early — he also leapt up to swat away a Keon Ellis lob attempt. Offensively though it was George who was off to a hot start, making four of his first five shots of the night.

• Nick Nurse went deep into the bench as rookie two-way Justin Edwards saw some early minutes, just his third appearance of the season. Not much came his way, save for DeRozan drawing a shooting foul on him. No shame there. On the other end of the floor Ellis fouled George as he was putting up a prayer to close the quarter. That gave him three at the line and the Sixers a five-point lead.

Second Quarter

• In the first George was coming off a lot of screens to get him shots off the catch. To start the second he started cooking a bit off the dribble with a drive to the hoop and a midrange fadeaway. Eric Gordon and Andre Drummond also returned after missing the last several and combined for 19 points off the bench in the first half. Not only that, but Gordon managed to block a three-point attempt by Malik Monk.

• Just moments later though, George drove to the basket, made the layup, but landed hard on his back. He subbed out and grabbed a heating pad, but subbed back in a few minutes later. The Sixers were still scoring efficiently, making seven of their first 10 shots from inside the arc. The Kings switched things up a bit and threw a zone and successfully slowed them down, allowing for a 17-3 Sacramento run.
• As the Sixers continued to miss shots, they rushed themselves a bit and turned the ball over a couple times as a result. A Caleb Martin three accounted for their only points in the last 4:11 of the half. A Fox three that just beat the buzzer tied the game at 57 going into the break.

Third Quarter

• A hot start to the second half as the teams opened it shooting a combined 8-of-11 from the floor. The Sixers made four of their first five threes while Maxey and Fox traded nifty finishes in the paint. Maxey didn’t shoot it well in the first half but his impact on defense was felt. His sense of timing when to be a nuisance off-ball as well as on-ball has improved a lot this year. The Kings had four early turnovers in the quarter.
• After going down by double digits again, it was the Kings’ turn to get hot from three as they clawed their way back. Philly’s lead was kept alive by some very tough shotmaking from George.

• Maxey finding a groove also helped them stay in front. He shot 4-of-6 in the quarter after going 3-of-9 for the first half. His layup in transition with 1:19 was the last basket of the quarter for either team as the Sixers held on to a nine-point lead.

Fourth Quarter

• This time it was a the Sixers with ugly turnovers that allowed the Kings to close the gap. Drummond got called for three seconds in the lane, then Ricky Council IV tried to hit him with a behind-the-back pass that had little hope of reaching the post.
• The lead was cut down to four, then the Sixers started to trade baskets again. Maxey’s floater was a good source of offense on the night when they were in a jam. That made it easy for him to get rolling when his threes started falling. Everything appeared to be humming until George picked up his fourth and fifth fouls of the night in quick succession — his third straight game where foul trouble has been a problem.

• Once again, the Sixers went lifeless after extending their lead to nine. They went scoreless for over three minutes down the stretch as they surrendered an 11-0 run. That stretch saw four turnovers, including one where George didn’t know the shot clock was expiring. Then they let the Kings run 20 seconds off the clock before fouling, and it was George who had to use his sixth. A complete and utter collapse this team can’t afford as the schedule only gets harder.
• The Sixers wrap up the West Coast portion of the trip Thursday night against the Golden State Warriors. That game will tip off at 10 p.m. ET on TNT. Joel Embiid is expected to be back for that one, per the NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcast.