DALLAS — Being relegated to a supportive teammate is tough for Kelly Oubre Jr.
The 76ers small forward was having a great season before spraining the lateral collateral ligament in his left knee against the Detroit Pistons on Nov. 14. Thursday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks marked the 20th game he has missed since.
“Just not being able to play basketball,” Oubre said of the most frustrating part of his injury. “Not being able to be with the guys on the court in battle. I’m with them every day, off the court. And I can help and say things that I see.
“But just being in that motion with the guys is everything that I want. And, you know, just kind of losing that groove a little bit.”
The 6-foot-8, 200-pounder is expected to give the Sixers a lift once he returns. Before his injury, he averaged 16.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in 12 games. In addition to excelling when the ball was moving, he did a solid job of guarding the opposing team’s best perimeter player.
“I think Kelly’s playing arguably his best basketball of his career this year,” coach Nick Nurse said, “so getting that back, the energy, and leadership defensively that he always shows — always plays hard, man. I think that’s definitely needed. He’s got a little bit more size, too.”
Oubre participated in a live four-on-four scrimmage on Wednesday in Texas. That comes after he partook in a live three-on-three scrimmage on Monday in Memphis.
“I’m doing a lot of running,” Oubre said. “But I’m also doing a lot of playing now and individual skill work. But, obviously, getting to that five-on-five and that actual live bump where I’m moving around and constantly guarding full court, that’s the next step for me.
“But other than that, I’m just going off pain management. No pain, you know, but, obviously, I have to get stronger in certain areas and get my wind up again.”
Sixers Kelly Oubre Jr. has averaged 16.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in his 12 games played this season.
Nurse said Tuesday that the Sixers hoped Oubre would play during this road trip. His only chance to do that would be Saturday, when the Sixers conclude the five-game trip against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. But his availability might depend on whether Oubre can get in a five-on-five scrimmage on Friday and how his body responds.
“I’m getting there,” Oubre said of getting closer to returning. “Every day, we have to take advantage of, I’m getting there.”
But how close does Oubre think he is to returning?
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m just going off what the trainers and the docs say. So for me, I don’t feel any pain, any shortness after workouts, and things like that, which is a good sign. So I take that as a positive and just continue to build from there and get stronger.
“But I’m leaving it to the docs and the trainers.”
When he does return, Oubre doesn’t think he’ll have a problem with reintegrating.
He has yet to play in a game this season with Paul George, who was sidelined for the first 12 games because of left knee injury management. Oubre has only played six games with Joel Embiid.
But Oubre has played with Embiid the past two seasons and with George last season.
“I played with everybody already,” he said. “They know what I bring, and they know how I play. So, it’s just about finding that footing and that rhythm together again. But I don’t think it’s going to be difficult at all. I try to adapt to whatever my situation is on the court. And everybody, we flow off of each other, and I’m just going to be another piece to the puzzle.”
DALLAS — Maybe the 76ers should have listened to VJ Edgecombe sooner.
With 18.3 seconds left in Tuesday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies, coach Nick Nurse drew up a play with two options for the Sixers (17-14). The first option was for Tyrese Maxey to score a layup. But if Maxey drew a double team, he was instructed to dish the ball to Edgecombe, who would take the shot.
The latter happened as Edgecombe’s defender left him to trap Maxey. And the No. 3 pick in June’s NBA draft buried a 25-foot three-pointer with 1.7 seconds left in overtime to give the Sixers a 139-136 victory at FedEx Forum.
“VJ has been telling us for probably, like, three weeks that he deserves to get to shoot one game-winner,” Maxey said. “Like, at the end of the game, like, ‘Everybody has shot one! Let me shoot one!’ He shot one, and he made it.”
This was actually the second game-winning basket Edgecombe has made during the first 27 games of his professional career. The first one occurred on Dec. 4 against the Golden State Warriors at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
He scored on a putback with 0.9 seconds left after Golden State’s De’Anthony Melton blocked Maxey’s shot. After that play, Maxey blocked Melton’s layup attempt at the buzzer, enabling the Sixers to escape with a 99-98 victory. But that was more of an athletic play by Edgecombe, who was in the right place at the right time.
Tuesday’s effort showed that Edgecombe can be trusted to close out games. And his teammates are not surprised that he made the shot or that he dared to take it.
“I said, ‘OK.’ I trust him,” Maxey said of Edgecombe asking for his number to be called. “Even that play, at first we were going to go 4-flat. I said, ‘Listen, let’s try something. Come up, set a screen, see if they put two on the ball. If they put two on the ball, slip out, shoot the three, and make it.’ And that’s what happened.”
With VJ Edgecombe guarding him, Jalen Brunson was held to six points on 1-for-10 shooting in the second half of the Sixers’ Dec. 19 victory over the New York Knicks.
Joel Embiid thinks Edgecombe’s desire to attempt a game-winner was normal, especially given the looks others get on the team.
“So everybody’s always bound to have that big moment,” Embiid said. ”It’s another thing to make it. … Then tonight, he made shots to give us the win.”
Edgecombe finished with 25 points while making five three-pointers. He carried the Sixers in the fourth quarter, scoring 13 points before adding the game-winner on his lone basket in overtime.
The shooting guard, who starred last season at Baylor, has a knack for producing in the clutch for the Sixers, even on the rare nights when he struggles for three quarters.
“We’re blessed to have him. Super,” Maxey said. “Thank you, basketball gods, Lord, Baylor, I don’t know. Daryl Morey. Everybody.”
Edgecombe has made Morey, the Sixers president of basketball operations, look like a genius.
The 20-year-old showed that he can be an elite scorer by producing 34 points on 13-for-26 shooting to go with seven rebounds in the Sixers’ 117-116 season-opening victory over the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. It was the third-highest scoring debut in NBA history behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 43 points on Oct. 24, 1959, and Frank Selvy’s 35 on Nov. 30, 1954.
He also exhibited the ability to be a lockdown defender, with his stellar effort guarding New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson in a 116-107 victory at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 19. Brunson, a two-time All-Star, finished with 22 points on 7-for-22 shooting and missed 6 of 7 three-pointers. With Edgecombe guarding him, the former Villanova standout was held to six points on 1-for-10 shooting in the second half.
And on Tuesday, Edgecombe showed that he can be a closer.
Now, he and the Sixers turn their attention to a New Year’s Day game against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center. Embiid is listed as probable for the matchup against the Mavs (12-22) with a sprained right ankle and right knee injury management. His absence from the game would create more scoring opportunities for Edgecombe.
Edgecombe outperformed No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg in their first meeting, finishing with 26 points, six rebounds, and four assists in a 121-114 victory on Dec. 20 at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
The prior matchup against Dallas was Edgecombe’s fourth straight game with at least 22 points, tying Charlotte Hornets forward Kon Knueppel for the longest such streak by a rookie this season.
Sixers guard VJ Edgecombe has been mentored by the Warriors’ Buddy Hield (left).
Edgecombe is clearly off to a fast start. So what’s his potential?
“He’s 20. Let him figure it out,” Maxey said. “I’m not going to put a cap on him. People tried to put a cap on me, and now we’re here. So, who knows? It’s up to him. How much does he want to work? Who does he want to become?”
For now, they’re enjoying the season the poised Bahamian is producing.
“A game-winner for a rookie is pretty good,” Nurse said. “He’s made some big shots and big plays this season. He’s kind of even-keeled all the time. He never shows a lot of emotion, and that’s an incredible quality to have. He just goes and plays the game.”
OKLAHOMA CITY — The 76ers must solve their third-quarter problem.
They also need to take better care of the ball.
And with the schedule getting tougher, the Sixers look like they blew golden opportunities to get much-needed victories against the struggling Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls.
These things stood out in Sunday’s 129-104 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Paycom Center.
Another third-quarter struggle
The Sixers (16-14) are now riding their first three-game losing streak of the season. But for a half, they appeared capable of beating the defending NBA champion Thunder, who have the league’s best record (27-5).
The teams played through six lead changes and 12 ties before Oklahoma City took a 64-62 advantage into the intermission. Afterward, the Thunder ramped up their defense, taking the ball out of hands of Tyrese Maxey, who had 23 points on 8-for-10 shooting in the first half. The Sixers point guard was held scoreless on 0-for-3 shooting in the third quarter, while the Sixers were outscored 38-24. Maxey added five points in the fourth to finish with a team-high 28 points on 10-for-18 shooting — including missing five of seven three-pointers — to go with five assists and a game-high four steals.
But the damage was done in the third quarter as the Thunder stretched a two-point lead into an 18-point cushion. They extended their lead to 27 in the fourth.
Tyrese Maxey (left) had 23 of his 28 points in the first half to lead the Sixers in scoring.
“The last game [against the Bulls], I was really aggressive in the third, which kind of helped us a little bit,” Maxey said. “Tonight, I got in the paint and passed a few times, like they were collapsing. But you know, Joel [Embiid] was on me, third quarters you got to go out there and go for it every single time. I’m going to try to do that.”
But in Maxey’s defense, he made the right plays. He just didn’t get a lot of help.
Turnover woes
The Sixers were also doomed by turning the ball over.
They committed eight that turned into 14 points for the Thunder in the third quarter. And 14 of their 23 turnovers came in the second half.
“Just the whole second half was we were playing, obviously, the big amount of turnovers put us in trouble, getting our defense set up,” coach Nick Nurse said. “It’s obvious zero points per chance on 14 turnovers. It’s just way too many. I told the guys, the No. 1 key to the game. And a few of them, were like they are going to guard, they are going to pressure, they are going to deny, you know that. But there’s a good 10 of those are just our fault that we just didn’t make a strong enough play or the right read or whatever.”
Beating the Thunder was always going to be a tough task for the Sixers. But now, they take their longest losing streak of the season into Tuesday’s matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedEx Forum.
The Grizzlies were 15-16 heading into Sunday’s game against the Washington Wizards. Memphis had won six of their last nine contests.
As a result, the Sixers are preparing for a tough test. Then their final two games of the road trip are against the Dallas Mavericks (Thursday) and the New York Knicks (Saturday) before hosting the Denver Nuggets (Jan. 5).
Oklahoma City Thunder center Chet Holmgren (right) had a game-high 29 points against the Sixers.
With that, the Sixers could be in a downward spiral on the heels of blown opportunities in losses to the Nets (on Tuesday) and Bulls (on Friday).
“I don’t really look at it in any of those ways,” Nurse said. “I mean, I thought we played well enough in Chicago to win. Just needed to play a little bit better down the stretch. Brooklyn, we didn’t play well enough to win. They had a big night. They continued that.
“I don’t think that who we’re playing and who we played matters that much, because certain teams get in hot streaks. Doesn’t really matter what their records are.”
Nurse added that teams with good records don’t always play well, either.
“So we just got to play what’s in front of us,” he said, “and try to bounce back.”
OKLAHOMA CITY — VJ Edgecombe’s patience on the court is undeniable.
One might expect the third overall pick in June’s NBA draft to be anxious about making an impact. But the 6-foot-5 shooting guard picks his spots while deferring to Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and Paul George, the 76ers’ three maximum-salary players.
“The ultimate goal is just winning,” Edgecombe said. “I just want to win, to be honest. I know I was picked [No. 3], but they brought me here just so I can make plays. We have three prolific scorers. I don’t have to score the ball. I have to pick my times, but I must stay aggressive also. But I’m also a player that just wants to win.
“So whatever that takes, if it takes me guarding the best players on the defensive end, if that takes me playmaking, whatever, getting in the paint just to make plays for everyone else, I will do that.”
Staying aggressive has made him a human highlight film with his high-flying dunks. And it allows him to showcase his overall skill set when needed. Folks are still raving about his season-opening performance against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on Oct. 22.
That night, the 20-year-old scored 34 points to help lead the Sixers to victory. The performance placed him in the same rarified air as Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain and future Hall of Famer LeBron James.
It was the third-highest scoring debut in NBA history behind Chamberlain’s 43 points on Oct. 24, 1959, and Frank Selvy’s 35 on Nov. 30, 1954. Edgecombe’s 14 first-quarter points set a record for the most in the opening period of an NBA debut, surpassing James’ 12 points on Oct. 29, 2003.
But that was Embiid’s first game since February of last season, and George was sidelined with left-knee injury management. So the Sixers needed Edgecombe’s scoring prowess. Since then, the rookie has shown his scoring ability in spurts. Sometimes he’ll dominate play in a quarter or for a half — when needed. But other than that, Edgecombe defers to the Big Three.
Sixers guard VJ Edgecombe is averaging 15.8 points a game.
He took averages of 15.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.2 steals into Sunday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Paycom Center.
“It comes with patience,” he said. “It comes with just learning the game. I know as the No. 3 pick, but I’m on a team with people that can do that. They can score 30 a night. I can still score. I just want to win. Whatever it takes, that’s the most important thing.”
Sixers coach Nick Nurse praised Edgecombe for having a “really good feel for the game.” He noted that the rookie doesn’t get sped up during games. Still, Nurse would not mind seeing more.
“I would say, I probably would lean on him to be a little bit more aggressive,” the coach said. “I think there’s more opportunities for him to use his abilities, especially in transition, up the floor, etc.
“So, again, great feel for it. You know me well enough that I’m always pushing these guys to go a little bit more on the aggressive side, not necessarily for their own shots, but just to play-make. Get in there and draw two defenders, draw three defenders. Figure out how to start doing that and make the right play, create on offense.”
The lack of it is apparent when the Sixers find themselves trailing, when their offense melts into predictable isolation plays, rushed heaves, and unforced turnovers.
A lack of health is one reason why the odds are against the Sixers’ Big Three ever living up to their lofty expectations. A lack of self-awareness may be another. But the lack of rhythm seems to be the go-to explanation for the team’s 0-4 record when the three maximum-salary players all play.
“I think we need to figure it out and look at it, right?” coach Nick Nurse said when asked if he’s concerned. “I mean, it’s been a little sporadic as far as when they played together. That doesn’t help. I mean, I’d really like 10 or 15, 20 straight games so we can kind of start building some stuff and figuring out when to go where and get a little bit of rhythm and synergy. It’s just so choppy when they play together as far as in consecutive games. It’s hard to build rhythm.”
The trio won’t get an opportunity to build rhythm in Sunday’s matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center.
Embiid will miss the contest with a sprained right ankle and right knee injury management. Meanwhile, George is probable with left knee injury management.
But if we’re honest, the Sixers (16-13) have no business remaining winless in games featuring their three best players.
Sure, George is finally regaining his old form after missing 15 games due to left-knee injury management and another one due to a sprained right ankle. And Embiid, no longer a dominant force on both ends of the court, has lacked his usual bounce and lateral movement. Sunday will mark the 17th game he’ll miss while dealing with injuries to both knees and now his ankle.
The Sixers’ tempo has even suffered when the 7-foot-2, 280-pounder is on the floor. Instead of being a fast-paced and athletic ball-moving squad, the Sixers’ offense becomes stagnant. Defensively, has been a struggle for the 2023 MVP, who is a seven-time All-Star and three-time All-Defensive selection.
No longer fearing him, teams are running pick-and-rolls to get Embiid involved in defensive actions and switching onto him. And they’ve been successful due to his inability to move as quickly as he used to laterally and his constantly appearing out of position. That has led to players feasting on Embiid, who rarely jumps or comes out to contest shots. Nor is he able to consistently prevent players he once dominated from getting to the rim.
But he’s averaged 29 points on 18 for 32 shooting — including shooting 60% on three-pointers — over his last two games, which featured the Big Three. Yet, that didn’t make a difference against two opponents the Sixers should have defeated.
They suffered a 114-106 loss to the struggling Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday at the Xfinity Mobile Arena. At the time, the Sixers could have used the excuse of playing without three of their most athletic players in VJ Edgecombe, Dominick Barlow, and Quentin Grimes due to illness.
Edgecombe, Barlow, and Grimes returned for Friday’s game against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center. The Sixers were supposed to avenge their Nov. 4 loss in Chicago, a game in which they squandered a 24-point lead.
Joel Embiid has not been the same type of defensive deterrent for opposing teams as he has been in past seasons.
Instead, the Sixers suffered a 109-102 loss after shooting 23.8% in the fourth quarter — including missing nine of 10 three-pointers. George scored three fourth-quarter points on 1-for-3 shooting, but that’s a little bit misleading.
Despite George having a hot hand in the third quarter and the start of the fourth, the Sixers stopped involving him in the offense. As a result, George didn’t attempt a shot after re-entering the game with 5 minutes, 26 seconds remaining.
Meanwhile, Maxey made just 2 of 9 shots while scoring six of his 27 points in the fourth quarter. Embiid had four points on 1-for-4 shooting in the final quarter on a night he finished with a game-high 31 points.
This comes after George said on Tuesday that figuring “out how to find rhythm, playing off one another” was the next step for the Big Three to get a victory.
On Friday, he was asked the same question.
“It just comes down to us locking in,” George said. “Again, this was a game that we should have closed. A game we should have won. Just comes down to us locking in down the stretch. Again, this is a possession game, and close the game out. That’s when we need to be at our best.”
But while those three players are “locking in” and trying to build rhythm, the role players have been uninvolved.
Paul George says the Sixers need to start “locking in” and closing out winnable games.
“I think we have to get better on both ends of the floor,” George said. “We have been getting stagnant out there, and that’s made us play a little slower. [Friday], that affected us, especially down the stretch. Chicago was able to dial into us, and they made the plays in the last few minutes. That was the game for us.”
Despite their struggles, the Sixers remained in fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings heading into Saturday’s slate of games. Yet, they are about to face their toughest test of the season in OKC. This is the second stop of a five-game road trip for the Sixers.
The defending NBA champion Thunder have the league’s best record at 26-5 and are 14-1 at home. Oklahoma City is precisely the type of squad that a team still trying to develop rhythm wouldn’t want to face.
“What’s tough is that we haven’t been able to have much practice time with all three of us on the floor,” Maxey said. “And that’s something we need to deal with, because the games are different. They are much different. We missed a lot of shots that we should have made. Those things happen.
CHICAGO — Joel Embiid scored the ball with ease but didn’t do much else.
Tyrese Maxey shot poorly, then got hot before regressing down the stretch.
And Paul George continued to be an asset for the 76ers, even when he struggles to make shots. But his teammates didn’t continue to feed him the ball once he finally got hot.
Embiid had one of his best offensive performances of the season and finished with 31 points on 10-for-19 shooting to go with five rebounds, one assist, and a block. The 7-foot-2 center made two of his four three-pointers and all nine of his foul shots. He did all of that while noticeably limited by his ailing right knee.
Embiid gingerly ran up and down the court. The 2023 league MVP also grabbed his knee while grimacing in pain on the three occasions he fell to the floor. That has been the case on most nights that Embiid plays.
The seven-time All-Star struggled mightily on defense. He didn’t show much lateral movement and constantly appeared to be out of position. As a result, the Bulls’ post players feasted on him. Embiid didn’t have the quickness to come out and contest shots, nor was he able to prevent anyone from getting to the rim.
“I don’t know about that,” coach Nick Nurse said when a reporter pointed out Embiid’s defensive struggles. “I got to look at that first [on film]. I thought he had some really good possessions by him defensively. But let me look at the film first before I comment. I don’t think that.”
This appears to be the version of Embiid the Sixers (16-13) will have to live with.
But he stepped up offensively after the Bulls knotted the score at 96 with 5 minutes, 11 seconds remaining. Embiid drained a pair of foul shots to give the Sixers a two-point cushion 10 seconds later. Then on their next possession, he assisted on Maxey’s layup that made it a 100-96 game.
But after scoring a layup, Embiid was dunked on at the other end. On the Bulls’ next possession, Coby White shot a three-pointer over Embiid to give the Bulls a 104-102 advantage with 1:54 to go.
None of this was surprising as Chicago (15-15) was attacking him on screen-and-roll plays all night.
Cold to hot to cold
For a minute, it appeared that Maxey would have his second straight horrid shooting night.
He couldn’t find his rhythm while struggling through 3-for-14 shooting in Tuesday’s loss to the Brooklyn Nets. He continued where he left off in the first quarter of Friday’s game, scoring three points on 1-for-7 shooting.
A lot of his early issues were because of the Bulls’ defense.
The standout point guard drew two and three defenders and had a tough time getting to his preferred spots on the floor.
But Maxey made his first three shots while scoring nine points on 3-for-4 shooting in the second quarter. He did the same thing in the third, adding nine more points while making 3 of 4 shots. The 2024 All-Star’s persistence is why he’s an All-NBA candidate.
Then came the fourth quarter, when he had six points on 2-for-9 shooting as the Sixers faded. Maxey finished with 27 points, eight assists, and two blocks.
George’s contribution
George made solid contributions, even though it took the forward a while to find his shooting touch. He played solid defense, grabbed rebounds, and initiated the offense while recording 15 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists. George shot 5-for-15 — including going 4-of-9 on three-pointers.
He was held to three points on 1-for-5 shooting while missing both of his three-point attempts before intermission. George got going in the third quarter, when he made three huge three-pointers and had nine points.
He made a three-pointer at the start of the fourth quarter to give the Sixers a seven-point cushion. The nine-time All-Star then missed two shot attempts before subbing out with 6:41 left.
However, he didn’t attempt a shot after reentering the game with 5:26 remaining.
Would Nurse like to see George more involved in the fourth quarter after his solid third period?
“Yeah, for sure,” he said. “I think that we certainly got him going in the third. Tried to stagger some different guys in there to do just that. He was giving on defense there. He was really playing hard and was doing a lot at both ends, obviously on the boards, everything, yeah.
“Yeah, I would have liked to see him get a few shots. But I don’t feel like there was any real horrendous possession. … I can think about some wide-open shots and some shots at the rim. We just didn’t finish them.”
Those things stood out in Tuesday’s 114-106 setback to the Brooklyn Nets at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Winless with star trio
The Sixers (16-12) know much of their success ultimately will depend on how they play when Embiid, George, and Maxey are available.
Well, let’s say they have a lot of work to do.
Tuesday’s loss dropped the Sixers to 0-3 this season in games in which all three play. They suffered a 142-134 double-overtime home loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Nov. 30. And the Sixers lost, 112-108, at home to the Los Angeles Lakers on Dec. 7.
The team was missing several rotation players because of illness and injury. The Nets (9-19) also have won two straight and six of nine games. However, with their best three players, the Sixers were expected to beat Brooklyn.
Sixers forward Paul George scores two of his 19 points on Tuesday night.
So what’s the next step to a victory?
“We all just got to figure out how to find rhythm, playing off one another,” George said.
But early Tuesday, the Sixers lacked ball movement. It was a game in which Embiid and George tried to get themselves going. Meanwhile, Maxey was a bystander, despite entering the game as the league’s third-leading scorer at 31.7 points.
He was scoreless on 0-for-1 shooting in the first quarter and finished with 13 points. He missed 11 of 14 shots — including all five of his three-pointers. Maxey also finished with three rebounds, two assists, four steals, and four turnovers.
Afterward, Maxey said he didn’t get into rhythm.
But was only getting one shot attempt in the first quarter a result of that? Or was that a matter of trying to get others involved?
“I feel like I was trying to make the right play,” he said. “But I got to stay aggressive.”
Embiid had 27 points on 8-for-13 shooting along with six rebounds, four assists, three turnovers, and two blocks. George had 19 points on 5-for-14 shooting to go with four rebounds, two assists, four steals, three turnovers, and two blocks.
As a team, the Sixers shot 40.7% — including making just 7 of 27 three-pointers. They also committed 17 turnovers.
“Just being stagnant,” George said of what led to the Sixers’ struggles. “We got stagnant, loss of rhythm, team-wise. And we just played slow. I think our pace was a little slow, which, give them credit. They were making shots, which made it tough to get out, and play, and run fast.”
Embiid scare
Embiid went back to the locker room after falling to the court 25 seconds into the second half after being fouled by Terance Mann. It initially appeared that Embiid turned his ankle. However, he reached down and grabbed his right knee.
The 7-foot-2, 280-pounder returned with 6 minutes, 49 seconds remaining in the quarter. Embiid has already missed 16 games this season because of injuries to both knees. The Sixers had to be elated that this wasn’t serious.
Embiid returned to the bench midway through the quarter with both of his knees wrapped.
“Just hyperextended it,” Embiid said. “Went to the locker room, checked it out, and we’ll see how I feel.”
Before the injury, he was off to a solid start, with 19 first-half points on 7-for-10 shooting.
Embiid had missed the previous two games because of an illness and right knee injury management.
“It’s all right,” he said of his hyperextension. “We’ll see how it feels. Obviously, when you’re hurt, it’s kinda hard to judge, so we’ll see how it feels tomorrow.”
Sixers center Joel Embiid (left) attempts a layup against the Nets. He scored 27 points.
Gordon is still a sharpshooter
Gordon, who turns 37 on Christmas Day, has had a solid NBA career. But now in his 18th season, the shooting guard rarely plays because the Sixers have younger, more athletic guards in Maxey (25), VJ Edgecombe (20), Quentin Grimes (25), and Jared McCain (21).
While he’s not as mobile as before, Father Time has not impacted Gordon’s shooting. He shot 61.5% from the field and 62.5% on three-pointers in his first five appearances of the season.
He made his sixth appearance on Tuesday with Edgecombe and Grimes sidelined by an illness.
And Gordon again had a solid shooting night.
He finished with a season-high 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting. He made his first three shots.
The Indianapolis native entered the game with 3:56 left in the first quarter. He made a layup at the 3:00 mark. Then he drained a three-pointer to tie the score at 27 with 16 seconds left in the frame. He hit his third shot attempt, a three-pointer that gave the Sixers a five-point cushion, 1:28 into the second quarter.
He added a three-pointer in the final second of the third quarter.
“I’m going to be ready for whatever opportunity comes,” Gordon said. “I played in this league for a long time. I can still move. I can still shoot. I can still create my own shot. I don’t know, maybe we will see when the times get harder, play against tougher teams, or whatnot.
“But I know we got a lot of young guys that we need to continue to play and whatnot. I’ll just be ready when it’s my time because I know I can fit in and gel with these guys and keep the floor open for these guys. As you can see, whether I play, miss 10 games and don’t play, come in, you know, I’m still going to be ready to go.”
A need to get healthy
Before the game, the Sixers were excited to have Embiid, Maxey, and George together on the floor.
But they didn’t like the fact that several of their key rotation players were sidelined.
Kelly Oubre Jr. (left knee LCL sprain) and Trendon Watford (left adductor strain) have been out for several weeks. Dominick Barlow also missed Tuesday’s game because of illness.
With Edgecombe and Barlow sidelined, the Sixers started McCain and Jabari Walker alongside Embiid, George, and Maxey.
Grimes and Barlow initially were listed as questionable on Monday evening’s initial injury report. The team announced Tuesday morning that Edgecombe also was questionable. Moments later, they canceled the morning shootaround.
But the team has been dealing with illness for a couple of weeks.
Paul George (left) and Tyrese Maxey celebrate after George made a shot against the Nets on Tuesday night.
Maxey missed the Sixers’ games against the Indiana Pacers (Dec. 12) and Hawks (Dec. 14) with an illness. Embiid sat out both games of Friday and Saturday’s back-to-back against the New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks with an illness and right knee injury management.
“It has kind of gone for a bit,” coach Nick Nurse said. “It probably started with Tyrese, but that would seem to be an isolated case, and now it’s kind of making its way a little bit, obviously. The guys that weren’t feeling great yesterday didn’t report to practice. This morning, when we didn’t see much improvement and added another to the list, we postponed shootaround, as you guys well know. You probably would have been here this morning. Just keeping the guys away until we can bring them to the game.”
Michael Porter Jr. (center) is defended by Paul George during Tuesday night’s game.
The Sixers can only hope Edgecombe, Grimes, and Barlow are back when they embark on their five-game road trip against the Chicago Bulls (Friday), Oklahoma City Thunder (Sunday), Memphis Grizzlies (Dec. 30), Dallas Mavericks (Jan. 1), and New York Knicks (Jan. 3).
With the trio out, Justin Edwards was the sixth man. Gordon was the seventh man, and Kyle Lowry was the ninth. This was the fifth game for the 39-year-old Lowry, who’s in his 20th NBA season.
“You know what we missed? We missed three athletes,” Nurse said. “Other than Tyrese, that’s our speed, right there. We got Q, explosive. Barlow, athlete. VJ, athlete that we [depend on]. We missed all three of them. And it kind of made it hard for Tyrese to not … have other guy [Edgecombe] out there to crack into the paint a little bit and do some of the things that VJ does for sure.”
This was a bad loss to a team over which the Sixers had averaged 18-point victories in their first two meetings.
“They were definitely missed,” George said. “Their energy, their extra plays. Those guys have a great feel for the game and just understanding where to be the defensive mindset. So they were for sure missed.
“But, you know, this is a very winnable game with [the Nets also being] down [players.] So you can’t make excuses that they weren’t there.”
NEW YORK — Exactly six months before Christmas Day, the 76ers received an early holiday gift in VJ Edgecombe.
On June 25, they selected the combo guard from Baylor over the polarizing, perceived-to-be-more-NBA-ready Ace Bailey with the third pick of the NBA draft.
“He’s a dynamic athlete, potential All-Star, two-way player,” Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey said of Edgecombe the night of the draft. “Really helped his team. He’s got all these winning qualities that we think fit. Great teammate. His story and what he has done to get to this point is really unbelievable.
“We think he’s on a great trajectory to take where he’s come from and continue to improve … all the way through a very long and very promising NBA career. And we’re excited it’s here with the 76ers.”
The 6-foot-5 , 195-pounder made Morey look like a genius by scoring 34 points on 13-for-26 shooting to go with six rebounds in the Sixers’ 117-116 season-opening victory over the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. It was the third-highest scoring debut in NBA history behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 43 points on Oct. 24, 1959, and Frank Selvy’s 35 on Nov. 30, 1954.
And nothing has changed since then to make the Sixers rethink the selection.
Edgecombe outperformed No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg while finishing with 26 points, six rebounds, and four assists in Saturday’s 121-114 victory over the Dallas Mavericks at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
It was his fourth straight game with at least 22 points, tying Charlotte Hornets forward Kon Knueppel for the longest 22-plus-point streak by a rookie this season.
Edgecombe is averaging 16 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.3 steals in 24 games. He is also shooting 38.3% from three-point range.
Meanwhile, Bailey averaged 10.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.7 assists through 26 games with the Jazz. His highest-scoring games were 21 points twice, whereas Edgecombe has scored at least 21 points seven times while playing alongside Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and Paul George.
Sixers guard VJ Edgecombe scored 23 points and made clutch plays in a win over the Knicks.
And even though he shone in Saturday’s game against the struggling Mavs (11-18), folks were still marveling over Friday’s performance against the NBA Cup champion New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
Following his stellar performance in the 116-107 victory over the Knicks, several Sixers were asked if his play has surprised them this season.
“Sadly, no,” Maxey said. “I want to say yes, but, sadly, no. Like, this is who he is, you know what I mean? We realized that Game 1. Yeah, you can do what you want to do in the preseason, and all that and practice in training camp, but when the lights come on, you just never know, and the lights came on, and he came on with it.”
Against the Eastern Conference second-place Knicks (19-8), Edgecombe finished with 23 points, 18 of which came after halftime. He also finished with four assists, two steals, and one block while being a plus-13 and logging a game-high 38 minutes, 4 seconds.
His most notable achievement was his stellar defensive performance against Knicks guard Jalen Brunson. The two-time All-Star point guard finished with 22 points on 7-for-22 shooting and missed 6 of 7 three-pointers. With Edgecombe guarding him, Brunson was held to six points on 1-for-10 shooting in the second half.
He kept hounding Brunson with his ability to get over screens.
“To be honest, it’s kind of like a skill and wanting to do it,” Edgecombe said of battling through screens. “You know, everyone, when you see a teammate come in, you say, ‘Oh, switch.’ But that’s like wanting to [stay on your man]. You got to put in the effort, and knowing who I’m guarding also, an elite player, someone that thrives off coming off ball screens … so I’m just trying to make it difficult.”
Sixers guard VJ Edgecombe held Knicks All-Star point guard Jalen Brunson to six points on 1-for-10 shooting in the second half on Friday.
Andre Drummond has been most impressed by the Bahamian’s poise.
“Despite whatever comes in the game, he still plays the game,” Drummond said. “He doesn’t get too sped up, and the way that he defended Brunson [Friday night] was textbook.”
But isn’t it rare for a 20-year-old rookie to have that kind of poise?
“I think I told you guys at the beginning of the season that he doesn’t count,” Drummond said. “He’s been a professional for God knows how long with the Bahamian national team. So he knows what it takes to play against tough competition. He’s been doing it since he was very young.
“So no surprise there. We are just going to expect more from him. That’s all.”
But coach Nick Nurse admitted that Edgecombe surprised him against the Knicks. The coach mentioned his tough buckets down the lane when the Sixers needed them and raved about Edgecombe’s huge two offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter to keep possessions alive when they desperately needed to match the Knicks’ scoring.
“So that was, I don’t know, surprising,” Nurse said. “He’s really good. He’s getting better, too.”
Edgecombe averaged 19.6 points on 48.6% shooting — including making 14 of 28 three-pointers — in the five games entering Saturday.
But his role has shifted game to game, with his responsibilities affected by Embiid and George missing time because of injuries and Maxey being sidelined for the two games before Friday with the flu.
“To be honest, when one of them is out or not, the three of them tell me all the time, ‘Stay aggressive,’” Edgecombe said. “So regardless of the game, they are going to tell me to stay aggressive all the time. In Atlanta [on Sunday], Joel was telling me, ‘Stay aggressive.’ ’Rese tells me, ‘Stay aggressive every night.’ P always tells me, ‘Be aggressive; be aggressive.’
“So I say my role is just to be myself, and the adjustment to the pro game has been going well, to be honest with you. It’s the pros, the best players in the world. Just to be in the league, I know I have a lot of work to do because one day I want to be the best player.”
Sixers guard Vj Edgecombe (77) scored 17 of his 26 points in the third quarter of Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks.
With Maxey out against the Hawks, Edgecombe scored 17 of his 26 points in the third quarter to keep the Sixers in the game. He did that while making 5 of 7 shots, including all three of his three-pointers. He was 4-for-4 from the foul line while playing the entire quarter.
Edgecombe has been solid for most of the season. It’s just been a matter of keeping him involved. He gave the crowd in Atlanta a glimpse of what he can do when the offense runs through him. Then he showed folks at MSG why he’s an early Christmas gift for the Sixers.
“Do I surprise myself? No, I don’t, to be honest,” he said. “I don’t want to sound cocky or nothing, but I don’t surprise myself at all. I know what I’m capable of doing.”
Tyrese Maxey typically is “super animated” whenever a health issue has forced him to watch his team play on television.
But when the 76ers’ star guard tried to express such outward enthusiasm while ill at home for Friday’s victory over the Indiana Pacers and Sunday’s three-point loss to Atlanta Hawks, he rapidly fatigued.
“The more I yelled and screamed, the more I got tired,” Maxey said following Wednesday’s practice. “And it was, like, I can’t do that. I couldn’t stand up, really. So I’m basically just sitting there, watching the game, like, throwing my arms like this.”
The good news for the 14-11 Sixers: Maxey was back on the court with his teammates Wednesday, following an individual session the previous day. Perhaps even more encouraging to him and coach Nick Nurse was how the Sixers played without Maxey, who entered Wednesday ranked third in the NBA in scoring (31.5 points per game) and leading the league in minutes (39.9 per game).
“When I said [before the season that] I wanted stuff to look the same,” Maxey said, “I just wanted us to go out there and compete every single night. I don’t want it to look like, ‘Oh, this guy’s out. That guy’s out. So we’re just going to lay down, and the other team’s going to beat us.’
“I think we’ve kind of created that standard and done a good job of it. It’s kind of coming to light, and now we’ve got to keep doing it.”
Nurse acknowledged Wednesday that his “fears were really high” entering last weekend’s games without Maxey. But the coach was particularly pleased with how rookie VJ Edgecombe handled lead guard duties, with seven assists against two turnovers across those two games while surpassing 20 points in each contest. The coach also liked how his team broke defensive pressure, and that he was able to get a look at a variety of lineup combinations.
Maxey, meanwhile, was thrilled that former MVP Joel Embiid “put on a clinic” in his 39-point outburst against the Pacers.
Tyrese Maxey says teammate Joel Embiid “put on a clinic” during the star center’s 39-point outburst against Indiana last week.
“When he was about to do the … you know,” said Maxey, referring to Embiid’s DX chop celebration. “I was about to say, ‘If I tweet that, will I get fined? If I tweeted a GIF?’ But I just stayed away from all that.”
Though Maxey said he felt “way better” while back in the facility Wednesday, Nurse believed the star guard “looked like he’s been off for a little bit.” And some reacclimation was necessary after the Sixers added to their schematic package during last week’s four-day layoff between games while Maxey was away. The point guard said he noticed those changes while reviewing practice film and while watching the games live.
“The biggest thing that I took from [those games] is that we can be really good,” he said. “I mean, we can. It’s possible. We have those opportunities. We have those chances.
“We’ve just got to keep coming together, keep doing a good job of building every single day, and staying healthy.”
Another positive injury development: Kelly Oubre Jr. (left knee) and Trendon Watford (left thigh) have progressed to individual on-court work, the team said Wednesday. There is no timetable for either player to return for game action, though Watford said Wednesday he is “close” to that.
“I feel like I had a pretty good groove going while I was playing,” said Watford, who averaged 8.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.6 assists in 14 games after missing the start of the season with a hamstring issue. “[I was] starting to string it together a little bit. It’s unfortunate what happened, but it could always be worse.
“Just sitting back and keeping that perspective, and just trying to attack the rehab the same every day.”
To the G League
A potential byproduct of the Sixers getting healthier is diminishing minutes for players further down the rotation. That includes Justin Edwards and Adem Bona, who, after playing more sporadically in recent games, were assigned to the G League’s Delaware Blue Coats for Tuesday’s win at the Capital City Go-Go.
Edwards scored 37 points on 13-of-21 shooting and added four rebounds and six steals in 40 minutes. Bona totaled 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting, four rebounds, three assists, and three blocks in 32 minutes.
Justin Edwards was assigned to the G League’s Delaware Blue Coats and scored 37 points in their win on Tuesday.
“That was a great opportunity for both of them,” Nurse said. “Went down there and embraced it and played great. My thing was I told them both, ‘Do your thing. Play hard. Do the things that you can do. Play to your strengths.’”
Edwards is 0-for-10 from the floor in his last three NBA games, and only logged 8 minutes, 51 seconds on Sunday in Atlanta. Bona, meanwhile, has not played in the Sixers’ past three games, with Embiid becoming more consistently available and Andre Drummond taking hold of the backup center spot. The Sixers also recently used a similar get-right strategy with second-year guard Jared McCain, who went 0-for-9 from the floor in his first four games upon returning from missing nearly a calendar year following knee and thumb surgeries.
Nurse said Edwards and Bona likely will see the floor in the Sixers’ upcoming back-to-back on Friday at the New York Knicks and on Saturday against the Dallas Mavericks. But, as the season rolls on, the coach acknowledged that both second-year players will probably have “long moments where they don’t hit the floor much.”
“So balancing growing … at a young age, with learning how to play,” Nurse said. “Playing the right way, keeping your confidence up, keeping your conditioning up.”
In the clutch
End-of-game scenarios have been a focus during the Sixers’ two lighter weeks, per Nurse.
That is understandable, given they entered Wednesday tied for second in the NBA with 18 “clutch” games played, which occurs when the score is five points or fewer with five minutes remaining in regulation. The Sixers were 1-1 in such situations last weekend, pulling away from the Pacers in the final minutes and then losing to the Hawks in a game that came down to the last possession.
After reevaluating the end of that Atlanta game — which included a chaotic final-minute sequence with two missed three-pointers, an offensive rebound, taking too long to foul, and a controversial no-call by the officials — Nurse described Quentin Grimes’ missed three-point leaner at the buzzer as “really good.” A detail worth mentioning: veteran Kyle Lowry entered the game to inbound the ball with 1.5 seconds remaining, a role once held by Nico Batum during the 2023-24 season.
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse talks to guard VJ Edgecombe during a game against the the Indiana Pacers on Dec. 12.
Overall, Nurse has called his team’s crunch-time play so far this season “maybe better than I expected, and certainly better than in the past.” The Sixers were 18-18 in clutch games in 2023-24, which ranked 14th in the league in winning percentage, and 15-21 during the dreadful 2024-25 season.
“We’ve made some clutch stops to get us in these positions,” Nurse said. “We’re doing OK. I want to keep building on that stuff. … Always want to get better. Always get greedy on that kind of stuff.”
Controversy from the Sixers’ loss Sunday night lingered into Tuesday thanks to a salty message from NBA officials calling out NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Alaa Abdelnaby.
With less than two seconds left and the Atlanta Hawks clinging to a one-point lead, Nickeil Alexander-Walker inbounded a pass in the frontcourt and dribbled it into the backcourt before being fouled by 76ers rookie VJ Edgecombe.
Clearly a backcourt violation and Sixers ball with a chance to win the game, right? Abdelnaby certainly thought so.
“His foot’s in the frontcourt! The ball’s in the frontcourt!” Abdelnaby said during NBC Sports Philadelphia’s telecast.
Can someone explain to me how this was NOT called a backcourt violation by the Hawks?
The officials didn’t see it that way, despite protests from Joel Embiid and Sixers coach Nick Nurse. Their explanation for the no-call after the game was that Alexander-Walker’s “momentum” carried him into the backcourt, which “is legal in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime.”
Former NBA referee turned ESPN analyst Steve Javie, a Philly native and Temple grad, heard complaints about the no-call from a Sixers fan during a Christmas party Monday night. But after watching the video, Javie thinks the refs made the correct call that Alexander-Walker didn’t establish himself in the frontcourt.
“That’s an easy one. I don’t even think it’s that controversial,” Javie told The Inquirer. “That’s not the one you want to go up the mountain on.”
So instead of it being Sixers ball trailing by just one point, Alexander-Walker made both of his foul shots and increased the Hawks’ lead to three. Quentin Grimes got up a decent shot that would have tied the score as time expired, but it bounced in and out, and the Hawks walked away with the win.
That’s when things got interesting.
On Monday, the National Basketball Referees Association criticized Abdelnaby on social media and defended the officials’ no-call during Sunday’s game.
“For those calling the game, there is a responsibility to know the NBA rules and explain them correctly in order to properly educate the fans,” the association wrote, tagging Abdelnaby’s X account.
This was not a backcourt violation and has never been a backcourt violation.
For those calling the game, there is a responsibility to know the NBA rules and explain them correctly in order to properly educate the fans @alaatweets
The referees’ official X account, with more than 136,000 followers, hasn’t been historically combative and had not called out a single announcer by name this season before going after Abdelnaby.
Why now? That remains unclear. The National Basketball Referees Association did not respond to a request for comment.
“As a ref, you hear so much stuff [from announcers] year after year, game after game, you get kind of frustrated. Like, ‘Dude, this is not the right rule you’re talking about,’” Javie said, especially from hometown announcers openly rooting for their teams. “This is why they’re frustrated and gave him a shot, probably.”
Abdelnaby, a former Duke standout and NBA player in his 10th season calling Sixers games, isn’t afraid to offer strong opinions about the officials during broadcasts. He did so multiple times Sunday night, including after the game from the concourse of State Farm Arena in Atlanta, where he and play-by-play announcer Kate Scott called the game.
“Sometimes you’re told as a player on the road, you have to beat eight instead of just five,” Abdelnaby said, referring to the three officials on the court. “I thought the Sixers got a little shortchanged tonight.”
Abdelnaby declined to comment about the NBA referees’ social media post, but he wasn’t alone in thinking the officials missed a backcourt violation.
“It was a complete blunder by the referees tonight,” NBA Sports Philadelphia studio analyst and former NBA player Marc Jackson said following the game.
What do the NBA rules say?
When in doubt, go to the rule book, where there appear to be two sections invoked Sunday night.
First, the NBA rule book clearly states that the ball “shall be awarded to the opposing team” if a ball in the frontcourt or at the midcourt line passes into the backcourt.
But there is one exception:
And here’s what the rule book says about determining the frontcourt or backcourt status of a player on a throw-in:
The rule basically says a player’s position isn’t determined until he has established a “positive position” on an inbounds pass, as long as it’s under two minutes in the fourth period or in overtime.
So what does “positive position” mean? According to Javie, it basically equates to possession and stopping with the basketball.
“If [Alexander-Walker’s] momentum had stopped from going to the backcourt, and then he took a step into the backcourt, that would then be deemed a backcourt violation,” Javie said. “He didn’t establish position anywhere, really.”
“I thought it was going to be less obvious than that,” Javie added, based on the complaints over the no call.
Fans will certainly have a lot of time to debate the rules, since the Sixers won’t take the court again until Friday night against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Amazon’s Prime Video.
