Paul George is starting to live up to the hype.
Joel Embiid can still have lethal scoring nights.
VJ Edgecombe is back to playing at a high level. And he could do more if the 76ers keep him involved throughout.
Those three things stood out in the Sixers’ 115-105 victory over the Indiana Pacers.
George shows his worth
George had to deal with the attention, scrutiny, and spotlight that came with signing a four-year, $211.5 million contract with the Sixers on July 6, 2024. He’s been mostly criticized over the past year while dealing with injuries and underperformances.
But the 6-foot-8 forward’s team-first mentality and ability to adapt to various roles have been on full display in the nine games he’s played this season. And with Tyrese Maxey sidelined with an illness, George excelled in the point-forward role against the Pacers (6-19).
He put his imprint on the game from the start, scoring the first two points of the night before assisting on the Sixers’ next two baskets.
The nine-time All-Star ended the quarter with eight points and two assists before finishing the game with 23 and five, respectively. George also had six rebounds and a steal and served as a solid two-way player.
“I’m comfortable with the ball,” George said. “I think more than anything, it’s just continue to prove to myself and remain confident as I continue to trust my body and gain confidence on the floor that my body can still produce. So it’s just adding to the confidence, and just chipping away at the work put into this season so far to get ready for this season.”
He missed 14 games this season with left knee injury management and sat out another game with a sprained right ankle.
On offense, the 35-year-old ran the team well, creating shots for himself and teammates against the Pacers. Defensively, George was active and made Indiana work hard for shots. He remained in constant communication with teammates on both sides of the ball.
These are the things the Sixers (14-10) envisioned when signing him to the maximum-salary contract to form a Big Three with Embiid and Maxey.
Embiid shines
This was Embiid’s best game of the season.
His 39 points were his highest regular-season total since he finished with a career-high 70 points against the San Antonio Spurs on Jan. 22, 2024. Embiid also finished with nine rebounds and three assists.
The seven-time All-Star was asked if his performance proves “I still do this.”
“I don’t know,” said Embiid, who averaged a career-low 18.2 points in his first nine games. “That’s for those people that don’t think I can do it. I can’t change their mind or opinion.
“It feels good. Obviously, playing like that, I feel like I can do it.”
He thinks the dynamics are different, at times. Embiid said he wants to play more as a team. He said that includes making sure everybody is involved.
“If somebody has to sacrifice, I will,” he said. “But [on] some occasions, when I got it going, like tonight, it’s going to happen.
“I don’t expect having to do this when everybody is healthy. But I will, if I have to.”
Coach Nick Nurse thinks Embiid’s performance was as simple as finding an offensive rhythm.
“But he worked at it this week, a lot,” Nurse said. “I think the practices helped, his own individual work away from practice certainly helped, which is a great sign that he’s doing that and feeling good or better-ish to do some of that.”
After scoring just four points in the first quarter, he combined for 29 points over the second and third quarters.
For the game, he made 12 of 23 shots. His biggest basket came on a putback while being fouled with 2 minutes, 56 seconds remaining. He made the foul shot to give the Sixers a 108-102 lead.
The 7-foot-2, 280-pounder later grabbed a huge defensive rebound on Pascal Siakam’s missed layup with 1:57 left. That led to George’s layup, which made it 112-105 at the 1:41 mark.
The 2023 MVP made just 2 of 8 three-pointers, showing that he still needs to improve in that area. Embiid also needs to do a better job from the foul line, where he shot 13-for-18. But he did attack the basket more, which was part of a night where he moved better than in any game this season.
“Again, I keep saying he’s best when he’s driving,” Nurse said. “And I think he drove it a lot to draw the foul early. That puts them in a tough situation of how to play him. And probably the best thing about it all, I mean, 39 is great, but it came at a lot of different schemes they threw at him.”
This was an outstanding offensive performance, considering he was shooting career lows from the field (40.7%) and on three-pointers (21.4%) in the first nine games of the season.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle was asked if he was surprised by Embiid’s productivity.
“Great player, perennial All-Star, on the Olympic team,” Carlisle said, “He’s a Hall of Fame guy. Who’s surprised? I’m not surprised.”
If he and George continue to play this way once Maxey returns, the fifth-place Sixers should ascend in the Eastern Conference standings.
Edgecombe must remain aggressive
At the start of the season, Edgecombe was the overwhelming favorite for rookie of the year. But a heavy workload, a tweaked role, and a left calf strain slowed him down a bit … until recently.
Now well-rested and healthy, Edgecombe is excelling once again. The 6-4 combo guard averaged 12.3 points on 44.8% shooting — making 6 of 12 three-pointers — in the three games heading into Friday’s contest. He followed that up with 22 points on 6-for-10 shooting, to go with four rebounds, five assists, and two steals.
Edgecombe scored 14 of his points on 5-for-6 shooting in the first quarter. However, he attempted only four shots afterward, making one to score eight points.
The third overall pick is playing well and showing that he can provide a key role. He just needs to remain in attack mode for four quarters. One can argue that his lack of aggressiveness stemmed from Embiid and George dominating the ball. However, he must stay involved.
