Sixes Bell Ringer regular season standings:

Jared McCain-4

Tyrese Maxey-2

Paul George-2

Guerschon Yabusele-2

Kelly Oubre, Jr. – 1

The Philadelphia 76ers squandered another brilliant performance from Jared McCain on Friday night, losing 98-86 to the Orlando Magic in NBA Cup group play.

It was a similar story to the Sixers’ loss to the New York Knicks earlier this week – a competitive game until early in the fourth inning, when Philadelphia went ice cold and allowed their opponents to make a big run. Orlando went on a 15-0 run from the end of the third into the final frame. The Sixers were never able to completely catch up.

Joel Embiid and Paul George were back in the lineup for the Sixers after missing Wednesday’s game (the second of a back-to-back) due to injury management. However, Tyrese Maxey remained sidelined with a hamstring injury will be reevaluated early next week. The Magic had some notable injuries before this, with All-Star Paolo Banchero out with a torn oblique and big man Wendell Carter Jr. who sat because of plantar fasciitis.

The Sixers also shook up the starting lineup a bit, with rookie McCain getting the start and Kelly Oubre Jr. moved to the couch. McCain had another standout performance, leading the way with 29 points on 10-for-17 field goal shooting (5-for-10 from long range). Embiid looked better physically to start tonight than he did earlier in the week, seemingly more comfortable with a noticeable increase in agility and spring in his step. Unfortunately, his 20-point performance was essentially a tale of two halves: 16 points on 5-for-8 field goal shooting in the first half, four points on 0-for-7 shooting from the floor in the second half. Paul George also struggled mightily with 13 points on 4-of-15 field goal shooting.

The 2-10 Sixers have the weekend off before returning to action Monday night against the Miami Heat.

Until then, let’s go to the whistleblower. Spoiler alert: it’s McCain again.

Jared McCain: 29 points (5 triples), 1 rebound, 4 assists

Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn images

Between writing articles about him and posting endless highlights of him on both the Liberty Ballers’ X-page and my own, I’m running out of ways to explain how impressive this kid has been. But I’m going to do it again because I can’t stop myself.

Tonight he scored 29 points, probably only missing out on his second consecutive 30-piece because he made a mistake late. He shot 58.8 percent from the floor (10-for-17, 5-for-10 from three-point range) and had four assists. These numbers are great, but the way he accomplishes these things is even more impressive, especially for a newcomer.

Let me try to explain.

The points and shooting percentage are great, which doesn’t take anything away. The point is, he’s able to accomplish this because he has a game awareness and basketball intelligence that is greater than most guys fresh out of college. McCain is constantly moving and finding open space, and he’s rewarded with plenty of comfortable looks. A perfect example is below, where McCain kicks at George and seemingly knows in mid-air that he’s going to reset beyond the arc to give George an option. He’s open, he gets PG’s pass and he sinks another triple. Simple, smart basketball.

Of course, that scoring is what has drawn attention, even from people just looking at the box scores. Something they might not get the full picture of just by looking at the stats is how good his passing turns out to be. I’ve posted a few of my favorites from the first half of tonight’s game below, with the most promising for the Sixers being his ability to find passes for Embiid. Getting the ball in the arc to Embiid, especially down low, should be a top priority to give the big man a chance to go to work. Unfortunately, it’s something the Sixers seem to struggle with here and there. Small sample size, sure, but McCain already showed a lot of potential tonight in his ability to do that.

Oh, and he also got his first NBA dunk tonight, much to the delight of on-air teammate Tyrese Maxey.

And all of this doesn’t even mention the other little things he does well, like staying active and engaged defensively and not being afraid to fight for offensive boards. We’d be here all night if I talked about everything this kid is doing right now.

The only The bad thing about McCain’s performance tonight was that he made a mistake with five minutes to play and the Sixers fought to keep things close. His sixth mistake in particular was one that probably could have been avoided, but it’s something you imagine he’ll get better at over time if the rest of his skill and awareness are any indication.

Just another night of McCain being insane. It’s a shame the Sixers let it go.