Instant observations: Sixers beat Bucks as play-in battle vs. Orlando looms

Here’s what I saw. Slow start, strong finish If you were expecting the Sixers to come into the final game of the season and dominate the Bucks from the opening tip onward, I suppose you haven’t been following Philadelphia all year. They have a great record against the under .

500 teams around the league, but it wasn’t often they put together start-to-finish beatdowns. Even when they got off to a hot start this season, they needed crunch-time heroics more than most playoff teams across the league. Early on, the Sixers didn’t exactly treat this like a playoff game from a competitive or strategic standpoint.

Nick Nurse played 11 different guys in the first half of Sunday’s game, dusting off Jabari Walker to play backup center minutes and inserting Trendon Watford back into the rotation after a pretty lengthy spell on the bench. I can understand trying to get everybody a bit of burn in case you need them, but in a must-win scenario, it was a little surprising that a short-rotation coach suddenly decided it was time to bring in the deep reserves. More importantly, their best player could not get going and played a relatively small role early in this one.

Tyrese Maxey was 1/5 from the field at halftime and played just under 15 minutes, which was a responsible decision but one that limited his impact. I’m sure the hope was that Maxey would have an outsized impact during his time on the floor, but he continues to look like a guy who isn’t as confident as he needs to be in his shooting hand. In the closing seconds of the first half, Maxey stepped out of what looked like a good look at a three late in the shot clock, and the possession turned into a 24-second violation as Trendon Watford was passed the grenade on the ensuing drive.