Welcome to Sixers Lore, The T.J. McConnell Game

The Sixers won on the road -- for the second time in two tries -- without Joel Embiid even in the lineup, you say? Well, surely some bizarre set of happenings, anchored by one particularly unlikely breakout performance were to blame for this historical anomaly. Indeed, the Sixers defeated the Pistons by a decisive score of 97-79 last night in Detroit, and it wasn't Nik Stauskas scoring 10 points on 3 shots, or Nerlens Noel (!!) returning for a brief cameo, scoring eight points in ten minutes before exiting again with a sprained ankle, or even Jahlil Okafor playing an awesome all-around game on defense that was the true outlier performance.

No, the night's triumph belonged first and foremost to one Timothy John McConnell, starting in place of an ill Sergio Rodriguez (watch out for those Clams Casino, guys) and playing a season-high 37 minutes. "Season high" was a recurring theme for T.J. last night, as he posted such numbers in points (12, somehow his first double-digit outing of the year), rebounds (10, his first double-digit outing as a pro), assists (nine, tying his mark set against Memphis) and steals (three, for the third time this year). That's right: McConnell was a blown Robert Covington layup away from the Sixers' first triple-double since... I wanna say Billy Cunningham? (Actually just Michael Carter-Williams in early 2015, but still.) 

McConnell was absolutely electric in this one, making all the right passes and making them well, zipping the ball to his guys in the half-second windows they had to be open and even leading them towards the basket in the process. He was a beast on the boards, grabbing some clutch caroms down the stretch, and even as he was in pursuit of that last assist for the trip-dub, he still attacked the basket when appropriate and make sure the Sixers sealed the victory first. Only complaint? Gotta start shooting those threes when you're wide open, Teej. You're wasting some beautiful Nik kickouts. 

Worth devoting a little ink here to a couple surreal performances from Nerlens and Jah in this one, too. Noel came off the bench for the first time this season, and rather than be coated in entire layers of rust as you'd expect from his months off, he scored a quick eight points (even hitting an open jumper!) and resumed his defensive dominance instantly, before peacing out again just as quickly with his ankle sprain. And though he missed some bunnies towards game's end and called for some doomed entry passes throughout, this was still one of Okafor's finest all-around performances as a Sixer, eating Andre Drummond as his blue-plate special on offense early, rebounding acceptably (nine boards in 26 minutes, it's a start) and actually serving as something close to a rim protector on D, not just collecting a couple blocks but affecting many others and acting as a genuine paint deterrent.

The basketball gods will undoubtedly never let us have three proficient big men healthy and effective at the same time, so by Wednesday's game against Toronto, expect Nerlens to be ruled out indefinitey, or Joel to be shut down for the calendar year just in case, or Jah to simply still be mid-food hangover from the night before. But hey, we just finished a three-game road trip with a winning record, and we still have more wins than the Mavericks in mid-December. The process has never looked trustier.

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