The Sixers trailed by 21 points after the first 9:30 of “action,” by 16 after one quarter and watched the Thunder hit 13 of their first 15 shots from the field. A very MVP-like 32 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and 24 from Jaylin Williams eventually asserted the Thunder’s obvious superiority.

We've reached the midpoint of an NBA season that has been filled with injuries to top players — Luka Doncic and Joel Embiid already have missed too many games to qualify for end-of-season awards — and plenty of surprises,