BOSTON — Tyrese Maxey wasn’t about to let V.J. Edgecombe off the hook. Rookies don’t get a pass. No matter how prodigious and talented they are, the ribbing is a rite of passage.
So, it didn’t matter on Wednesday night that Edgecombe scored 34 points in his Philadelphia 76ers debut. It didn’t matter that the former Baylor Bear set a new franchise record for scoring in a debut, and passed the great Allen Iverson in doing so. It didn’t matter that Edgecome scored the third-most points in a debut in NBA history. And it didn’t matter that Edgecome’s 14 first-quarter points were an NBA debut record, passing LeBron James in doing so.
Sure, Philadelphia erased a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit and defeated the Boston Celtics 117-116 at TD Garden. But Edgecombe, with 7.8 seconds remaining, missed two free throws and opened the door for Boston to win the game on the final possession. Philadelphia came up with a stop and celebrated when the clock hit zero, so all was right with the world. But, 34 points or not, Maxey was going to let his backcourt mate know that he missed two clutch foul shots.
“77 was scared to shoot free throws!!!” Maxey yelled across the locker room at Edgecombe, referring to his jersey number.
“Oh, my God, Rese, stop,” Edgecombe retorted, in between answering questions from the media.
For sure, this was a playful interaction. But in between the jabs, the realization is that Edgecombe may well have had the best debut in the rich history of Philadelphia 76ers basketball. For context, Maxey talked about how nervous he was in his debut. He talked about accidentally stepping out of bounds shortly after he was inserted into the game for the first time, and how then-coach Doc Rivers threatened to take him out of the game if he made another similar mistake. And then he talked about how much his debut paled in comparison to Edgecombe’s.
VJ EDGECOMBE JUST HAD THE MOST POINTS IN AN NBA DEBUT SINCE WILT CHAMBERLAIN 🚨🚨🚨
34 for the #3 pick… 3rd highest-scoring debut ever in the @sixers win! pic.twitter.com/xwjvqMZcsH
— NBA (@NBA) October 23, 2025
Edgecombe’s 34 points were gaudy, but they weren’t the eye-opening part of his game. It was the calm, and the mastery he displayed on the floor. It was how he carried the offense in long stretches. It was how the Celtics couldn’t pressure him, or speed him up, or force him into making typical rookie mistakes.
“He looked great out there,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said.
How good was Edgecombe? Maxey was the best player on the floor. He scored a game-high 40 points. His trio of consecutive 3-pointers in the fourth quarter got the Sixers sparked the rally. For large chunks of the game, he couldn’t be guarded. And even under those conditions, his game was almost an afterthought.
It’s not that the Sixers didn’t expect Edgecombe to be good. He was the No. 3 pick of the NBA Draft for a reason and was in the starting lineup on Wednesday night for a reason. But rookies just don’t walk into TD Garden, or any arena, and dominate to the degree that Edgecombe did. On Wednesday morning before shootaround, Edgecombe talked about staying calm and just going out and playing well. It was something that he carried with him through the day and then executed once the game began.
“It was definitely an amazing feeling just to be out there,” Edgecombe said. “To have that kind of game and to be mentioned in that company is amazing. It feels better just to get the win. I wanted to take the right shots and make the right plays. I wanted to play off my teammates, and I think I was able to do that.”
What Wednesday night represented for Philadelphia and its fans is hope. This is a Sixers team coming off a 24-win disaster of a season, and for most of the second half of the season, the goal of the franchise was to lose enough to retain a protected first-round pick owed to the Oklahoma City Thunder. When the lottery balls fell their way and they were able to draft Edgecombe, a night like Wednesday night was the vision.
Who knew that vision would become reality in Game 1?
“He was amazing,” Sixers star center Joel Embiid said. “To have 30 points in your first game, that’s definitely exceeding expectations. We know that he has it, so we just have to keep it going. He had a great game, and a great start, and I think we’re all super happy for him. I know myself, I am happy to have been a part of it.”
Wednesday night is the exact kind of game that the Sixers had issues winning last season. The Celtics scored 17 of the first 21 points of the second half. Philadelphia went long stretches of the third quarter without making shots. By the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, Boston led by as many as 13 points.
But Maxey’s fourth-quarter outburst brought the Sixers’ life and put game pressure on the Celtics. And once the Sixers got back into the game, Nurse decided to go small and switch everything defensively. That proved to be a game-changer, because it finally allowed Philadelphia to get stops.
Embiid wasn’t himself or even close. In 20 minutes — he was on a minutes restriction — he scored four points and went 1-0f-9 from the field. He looked uncomfortable, and he couldn’t find a rhythm offensively. But he was out on the floor, and he said he felt fine after the game.
“The trainers are telling me this is what I have to do, if I want to play,” Embiid said. “I thought it was great for us to get some stops down the stretch. We were locked in defensively, and we started making some shots. I’m good. It’s just going to take me a while to get into a flow. I am going to have to figure it out. I don’t have a choice. I want to be on the floor this season as much as possible.”
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