Tyrese Maxey scored 20 third-quarter points and 35 for the game in a 121-102 Sixers win over the Wizards, swatting away Washington with ease. Jared McCain chipped in 14 points off the bench, and VJ Edgecombe had six assists to go with two steals in an excellent showing for the backcourt core.
Here’s what I saw.
A great night for the guards
It’s hard to get any sort of usable data or insight from a game against the healthy Wizards, let alone a Wizards team playing on the second half of a road back-to-back. But with Quentin Grimes out for the evening and the young guard core given plenty of room to stretch their wings, I thought the Maxey/McCain/Edgecombe group looked terrific in their different combinations throughout the game.
Maxey’s three-point touch was brutal to start the game, which was a shame because of everything else he was doing well. He doesn’t exactly need a ton of urging to try to turn any game into a track meet, though it felt like he played especially urgently on the break against a tired Wizards team, daring them to try to keep up as he hunted transition threes and layups. News flash: Washington didn’t have it in them. So even as he struggled to find the range from deep, he did more than enough work as a driver to move the offense along.
This game was never that close in the second half, mostly because Maxey showed the killer instinct of a star who knows the other team ultimately wants to give in. He has lived that experience before — tired legs, on the road, dying to get out of the arena as a fresher team runs right past you. Armed with that knowledge, he unloaded the full arsenal on the Wizards. He split a double team with a crossover into a lefty layup at the rim, started canning the stepback threes that weren’t dropping early on, and moved his chess pieces around the board to get exactly where he wanted to go. The poor opponent aside, it was as good a stretch as he has probably played all year. 20 points in the third helped Philly break their third-quarter curse, at least for a night.
And more than ever before, Maxey is harnessing his speed on the other end of the floor, too. His two steals in the first half came on very different sequences, with Maxey playing ballhawk in the passing lane for one, snatching the other with a poke away in transition that had a razor-thin margin for error. Maxey has been one of the main culprits in some brutal transition defense possessions this season, sparring with the officials over missed calls rather than worrying about getting back, so it’s always nice to see him swing the other way and lead by example, as he has on so many other fronts.
We’ve already seen the proof of concept for McCain and Maxey — which is to say, threes galore — and the Maxey/Edgecombe starting backcourt has been excellent for most of the season so far. Tuesday, we got repeated opportunities to see Edgecombe and McCain run the show together, and it felt like they struck a nice balance of letting both guards cook. Edgecombe got more of the primary point opportunities, but McCain had a nice share of touches as the lead ballhandler at the point of attack, where he looked excellent in pick-and-rolls against some disinterested Washington defenders.
McCain is such an easy player to slot in on offense because he doesn’t need to spend much time on the ball to create advantages. Although he ran cold from three in the first half, McCain’s reputation is strong enough that he could still use it to set up closeout attacks, opening up drive-and-kick opportunities in secondary offense. He looks totally comfortable on the floor again, only a few weeks removed from some of us thinking he’d need time in Delaware to get his legs under him. Amazing what a few good games and a move away from the brace can do for you.
And the Sixers are playing it pretty safe with Edgecombe’s minutes right now, as they should be. They have enough guard depth not to push him to the limit the second he returned from a calf issue, and his next five years are much more important than the next five games.
But boy, does he make the games a lot more exciting when he’s on the floor. Edgecombe has misfired on a couple of long runway dunk attempts this year, biting off a bit more than he can chew against NBA athletes. He didn’t make that mistake on Tuesday, punishing a misstep from Washington’s defense with a quick burst to the free-throw line before detonating at the hoop:
His inability to make shots around the rim remains somewhat maddening, and he has to clean up the process there. That said, it felt like he was everywhere in this game, leveraging his athletic gifts as a defender and rebounder early and often. He had a tremendous stretch in the middle of the third quarter where he picked up an assist to Maxey, rebounded his own miss before assisting a Paul George three, then stole the ball away from CJ McCollum by simply outrunning him, eventually capping off the sequence with another rebound that turned into an and-one finish for Dominick Barlow. That’s a lot of stuff happening.
Combine the efforts and talents of these three guys, and you have a stew going. And while Quentin Grimes’ contributions have helped them win a bunch of games this season, I want to see more of these three than anyone else on the team. It might not lead to the most short-term success, but there’s a lot to work with and develop here.
The Sixers really nailed their two-way signings
I was prepared for Dominick Barlow to be the quintessential “energy guy” having watched him in small doses at his previous stops and after hearing the early reviews from Nick Nurse in training camp. And frankly, that would have been fine. The Sixers need little more than rebounding, the occasional three, and defensive responsibility at the four this season.
Where Barlow has impressed me most is everywhere else. He has found the sweet spot on offense, scoring on the expected dump-offs and dunker spot plays while also adding in some moderately difficult self-created buckets. And rarely have those moments of self-creation felt forced, or overzealous, or like Barlow was playing out of control. Barlow has played head-up basketball, leaving himself passing opportunities if the drive to the hoop doesn’t present itself. It was a rare night where his rebounding was almost nonexistent, but I thought he was a clearly positive force.
And Jabari Walker had a good night in his own right. He nailed back-to-back threes from the left corner during his first shift of the game, and he has continually brought it on the glass all season long, playing with the tenacity to go get the ball and the positional sense to make the work as easy as it can be. Good nights for both of these guys.
Other notes
— Finally, the Sixers got themselves an easy win and some rest for the usual suspects at the top of the minutes leaderboard. Huzzah!
— I will once again stress that this was a bad and tired Wizards team, but having Paul George and Justin Edwards on the floor with McCain and Edgecombe in the non-Maxey minutes felt like a big part of why they were both able to express themselves to the degree that they did.
George was a bit shot happy early in this game, but he’s a dream wing to play with for these guys, a shooter who commands attention and a post mismatch you can always feed the rock to. Edwards has his flaws, but he’s mostly happy to move off-ball and bomb away from three, so he’s rarely doing much to diminish your role or touches when he’s in the game. Something to monitor, but I like that grouping of four guys against second units.
— Andre Drummond looking off Jared McCain to take, and make, a corner three is downright hysterical.
— Johnni Broome, I was told not to say anything if you have nothing nice to say, so I will abide by that.
— Adem Bona’s first foul of the game came less than 20 seconds into his first shift. Can’t make it up.