PHILADELPHIA _ It was just a matter of time before JJ Redick broke out of his shooting slump.
Redick, who scored 16 of his 26 points in the first quarter, led the 76ers to a 114-106 win over the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
Despite the shooting spree by Redick, the Sixers needed every bit of what Jimmy Butler and Mike Scott gave them in the final moments of the game as the Magic stayed within striking distance.
Quiet through most of the night, Butler had two huge step-back jumpers that kept the Magic from taking the lead. Then, with just a three-point lead and less than a minute to play, Scott secured a rebound, waved for the crowd to get on their feet and hit a deep three to take a 108-102 lead.
The Magic tried their best to claw back but Tobias Harris, who finished with 21 points, hit free throws that put the game out of reach.
You wouldn't have even known that Redick had been plagued by a slump with the way he came out of the gate on Tuesday, and that was something that Magic head coach Steve Clifford was worried about before the game even started.
"It's his pace of play; there's not many guys like him," Clifford said. "Just the combination of skill level and the speed with which he can cut and finish plays at."
Redick went into Tuesday's game having shot just 25 percent from 3-point range over the last five contests including two single-digit performances, the only such games he's had this season. But that was all in the rear-view mirror against the Magic.
Redick finished the night shooting 6-of-9 from 3. He wasn't the only one that had a good offensive night, which was also something that worried Clifford.
"They have a different team, and no [Joel] Embiid, which takes away a post presence, but they're five-out right now the whole game," he said. "So there's a lot of room up there and they're very much on the attack offensively."
All five Sixers starters and Scott finished in double-digits. Even former Magic player Jonathon Simmons hit a third-quarter buzzer-beating 3 and finished with six points.
It wasn't just Embiid (knee soreness) the Sixers were missing. Both Boban Marjanovic (knee sprain) and Jonah Bolden (sinusitis) were sidelined as well and Brett Brown didn't know that Amir Johnson would be available until about three hours before tipoff.
With the depleted front court center Justin Patton was brought up from the Delaware Blue Coats and saw his first minutes in a Sixers uniform. Though Patton played just over nine minutes, this game was another chance for Brown to work with some smaller lineups which is where he went when the game was on the line.
