Adem Bona turned in a defensive masterclass in crunch time to help spark a massive Sixers comeback win over the Wizards, with Philadelphia moving to 4-0 on the year after their 139-134 win over the Wizards. Tyrese Maxey led all scorers with 39 points and added 10 assists.
Here’s what I saw.
Two unexpected heroes emerge in crunch time
In the opening five minutes of the game, Tyrese Maxey looked well on his way to continuing the hot streak that has set the league ablaze over the first week of the season. Maxey had three threes before you could even blink, and if anything, you thought he might improve on his absurd 37 PPG average. And then he never made a three again, missing stepback jumpers and clean catch-and-shoot looks alike. With Philadelphia on the second night of a back-to-back, Maxey’s legs clearly seemed to fade as they got deeper in this game, and you can hardly blame him for that.
He was stuck on the outside game a tad too long because when he got into his driving game in the final quarter and a half, Maxey put Wizards defenders in serious hell with his speed and physicality. Washington had absolutely no one capable of matching him stride-for-stride, and their best strategy was sending two to Maxey on-ball to get it out of his hands. Even still, Maxey kept wearing Washington down with his drives to the basket, lurching forward and leaning into his opponents for 39 massive points.
Philadelphia needed somebody to offer a jolt of energy and shotmaking as their perimeter leader slowed and Joel Embiid hit his minute limit for the night. Quentin Grimes, after 2.5 quarters of pretty scattered basketball, was the man with the plan to get Philadelphia another victory. Grimes was their liveliest player in transition, finishing a tip-in on an Edgecombe miss on the break, and he played important pressure defense as the Sixers turned to a full-court press in the final minutes.
And, naturally, Grimes hit another huge three to tie the game in the final minute after hitting a game-winner vs. Charlotte last Saturday:
He was clearly their freshest player in the overtime period, too, running all over the floor as his teammates struggled to get up and down the floor.
But it all would have been impossible, mind you, without Adem Bona. In the immortal words of Andy Gray, take a bow, son. Getting to the block he had to finish the fourth quarter looked borderline impossible in slow motion. I can’t believe he got it clean and gave the Sixers a chance to win it in regulation.
All he did in the overtime period was come up with the game’s biggest effort/energy play, finishing a wayward Maxey runner with a putback dunk that could be a catalyst for bigger and better things in his career.
Just when it looked like he had pulled off his final trick, Bona came up with two more blocks, ending the Wizards’ hopes for good. The young Sixers just won’t stop battling, and won’t stop winning. What a delight they have been.
Embiid cooks
The duality of 2025 Joel Embiid was on full display against Washington on Tuesday night. After scoring 20 points in 20 minutes against Charlotte, he looked even closer to his dominant self vs. the Wizards, using inside-out dominance to set up defenders for reach-ins and march to the free-throw line. If not for the minutes restriction and a bit of foul trouble, this could have been a vintage Embiid scoring performance.
Watching him pair up with several Philadelphia ballhandlers, it was remarkable to watch Embiid shift effortlessly in and out of combinations. Trendon Watford made his return to the rotation and immediately played out of jumbo pick-and-pop looks as the ballhandler, finding Embiid for some clean jumpshooting looks. VJ Edgecombe showed off another bit of quick learning by throwing Embiid early entry passes, letting Embiid attack an advantage instead of throwing the ball after an opening had disappeared. And you already know how beautiful the two-man game can look with Tyrese Maxey, perhaps the most effortless partner Embiid has ever played with. Those two had the sequence of the first half with some combination passing that eventually led to a Maxey dunk on a back cut, Embiid hitting him in stride with a nice bounce pass.
The big guy had 18 points at halftime, and most encouraging was his effort to get involved on the break and in semi-transition. Though he ended up on the wrong end of a successful Wizards challenge after trying to step around Marvin Bagley in transition, Embiid’s desire to push the tempo still felt like a good sign for his physical health.
Unfortunately, it feels like he’s using most or all of his energy/athleticism on one end of the floor. Peak Embiid used to be able to clean up all types of defensive woes at the point of attack, springing across the lane for ridiculous blocks and contests before ending the play with a rebound. Right now, it’s a rarity to see him jump on most drives by the opponent, with Bagley responding to one easy Embiid basket with a hellacious dunk on the other end, Embiid never moving after the Wizards beat the initial layer of Philadelphia’s defense. Embiid has vocally called out other NBA stars for doing so, always centering his two-way commitment, but he appears to be coasting on that end of the floor.
Will that change over time and/or in tougher matchups? I don’t have a crystal ball to call it one way or another. For now, I suppose I’m satisfied that he’s finding his offensive groove.
While we’re on the subject, Philadelphia’s league-leading offense has covered up that they have had one of the worst defenses in the league to open the year. They’re small and exploitable in the halfcourt, and they’ve done a poor job of getting back in transition to compound that problem. They can’t magically make their team bigger and more athletic, but they have the youthful legs to get back on the break and prevent the easiest buckets from happening.
At a certain point of this game, you simply had to tip your cap to the Wizards and credit them for a sensational shooting night. Guys were hitting from all over the floor, led by Alex Sarr, who started off with some midrange junk over Embiid before eventually splashing some threes and making it difficult to get a handle on how to defend him.
I was honestly a little perplexed at how they ultimately decided to try to fix the problem. With Washington shooting the lights out, the Sixers decided to throw more zone defense at the Wizards in the third quarter, ultimately conceding practice shots to the Wizards in the process.
A “normal” rookie game for VJ Edgecombe
Nick Nurse has been warning everyone that rookie ups and downs will happen, no matter how highly they think of VJ Edgecombe. The first half of Tuesday’s game was a curveball for the rookie to handle: Nurse ultimately kept him on the bench for a long spell in the first half, bringing him back with about seven minutes left in the second quarter. If not for a flurry in the final minute, Edgecombe would have played a scoreless half, which feels impossible after the way he started the season.
In his defense, Edgecombe spent the early stages of this one making the right basketball plays. On several drives to the basket, Wizards players converged on him and forced the rookie to go through his passing reads, and he made some sharp plays over the top to set up catch-and-shoot threes or quick swing opportunities. Not accumulating stats during that period doesn’t mean he was playing poorly, though the Sixers should already know that they need to keep him more involved in the offense.
Edgecombe did manage to put on a show from beyond the arc, hitting four of his eight threes, including two different four-point plays that he converted with ease. His mechanics on catch-and-shoot jumpers have been clean and consistent, and if he continues at this current rate, one of the big swing skills could turn into a strength, changing his trajectory. Had he finished his looks at the rim — another major question coming into his pro career — this would have been yet another superlative outing on offense in spite of his smaller share of touches.
Against his reputation, I thought this was a pretty poor defensive outing for Edgecombe, though. He was the culprit on a couple of half-hearted transition efforts that the Wizards scored on, letting Washington outrun him to spots on the break. Edgecombe also struggled to find the right matchup in the halfcourt, picking up a couple of cheap fouls while trying to go step-for-step with bigger players on drives.
Other notes
— Justin Edwards was probably the worst player on the floor for either team. He should not be in the rotation when the Sixers are at full strength.
— There has been a fair bit of “How will Paul George fit into this team?” going around with the Sixers’ young guys playing so well to open the season. I think that question has a pretty straightforward answer: Paul George is going to take/make threes and play defense, two things they desparately need from their supporting cast. Feels like an easy fit to me!
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