The Sacramento Kings got outmanned, outclassed and outmuscled for 48 minutes in Tuesday’s 123-103 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Joel Embiid was even more dominant than he typically is. At the start of the game, Embiid was bludgeoning the Kings’ bigs around the rim and getting them in foul trouble early. Sure, he was getting a friendly whistle, but when you are that huge and dominant, you get those calls most nights.

Aside from Embiid, the Sixers’ other two healthy best players, James Harden and Tobias Harris, had productive nights as well, scoring in the 20s. 

On the Sacramento side, De’Aaron Fox struggled in his first game back from injury, scoring just 13 points, and making only one of seven three-point attempts. For the Kings to compete against the NBA’s elite teams, they simply need a better version of Fox to show up, and that guy wasn’t there on Tuesday.

Despite battling some Embiid-related foul trouble, Domantas Sabonis continued to be Sacramento’s most effective player, scoring 22 points and making 8 of his 10 shots. Despite getting a rough whistle, Sabonis continued to be the relentless force he has been all season for Sacramento.

As a team, Sacramento made just 10 of its 42 three-pointers, while the Sixers made 16 of 35, which ultimately ended up being the game’s final margin. The Kings are reliant on those threes to fall, especially when they play the NBA’s elite teams. When they don’t, it’s going to be a long night.

It’s a long season, and all teams get blown out at some point, so Tuesday night shouldn’t be too alarming, but what’s ultimately going to decide this team’s fate is how they respond and if they can stop losses from piling up. And Sacramento won’t have time to dwell too much on this performance, as the team will face off with the Toronto Raptors north of the border on Wednesday.