The Oklahoma City Thunder avoided a letdown with a 118-102 win over the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers. It was a crawl to the finish line for OKC in an otherwise strong four-game East Coast road trip.

Despite most — this beat writer included — assuming that the Sixers would have their doors blown off by the NBA's best team defense and individual scorer, the nine players donning red, white and blue played with absolutely no expectation that they were going to be on the wrong end of a blowout.

The Wizards gave the Sixers a battle throughout the night, but Philadelphia eventually would hold on for a 109-103 win after holding off a huge Washington rally. Guerschon Yabusele gave the Sixers a huge lift all night and finished with 21 points, eight rebounds, and three assists to get the job done for Philadelphia.