{"id":18304,"date":"2025-10-29T02:36:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T02:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/18304\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T02:36:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T02:36:07","slug":"observations-after-sixers-make-giant-comeback-vs-wizards-and-steal-win-in-ot-nbc10-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/18304\/","title":{"rendered":"Observations after Sixers make giant comeback vs. Wizards and steal win in OT\u00a0 \u2013 NBC10 Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 The Sixers have four wins in four tries and Tuesday\u2019s comeback against the Wizards was the most improbable of the bunch.<\/p>\n

On the second night of a back-to-back, they erased a 19-point deficit and stole a fantastic 139-134 overtime victory at Capital One Arena.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tyrese Maxey recorded 39 points and 10 assists. <\/p>\n

Joel Embiid had 25 points, seven rebounds and five assists. He was limited to 23 minutes.<\/p>\n

Alex Sarr starred for the Wizards with 31 points and 11 rebounds. <\/p>\n

The Sixers had three injury absences in Paul George (left knee surgery recovery), Dominick Barlow (right elbow laceration) and Jared McCain (right thumb surgery recovery).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Next up for the Sixers is a Friday night matchup with the Celtics in Philadelphia. Here are observations on their remarkable comeback against the Wizards: <\/p>\n

Maxey and Embiid run the show in 1st half\u00a0<\/p>\n

Embiid certainly has his scoring touch back after a rough season opener against the Celtics.<\/a><\/p>\n

He drew a foul on Sarr 15 seconds into the night and scored eight points in his first stint, which lasted until the 6:08 mark of the first quarter. Embiid also dished a highlight assist to Maxey, connecting on a sharp give and go.<\/p>\n

The seven-time All-Star did concede several hoops in isolation to Sarr, who posted 13 of the Wizards\u2019 40 points in the first period. Transition defense was also an issue for the Sixers, who committed a few sloppy turnovers to help the youthful Wizards and allowed 12 fast-break points in the opening frame.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Along with Embiid, Maxey\u2019s shotmaking ensured the Sixers didn\u2019t fall badly behind. He swished two early step-back three-pointers and added a four-point play. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth remembering that Maxey shot 40.4 percent beyond the arc on 6.1 attempts per game from the 2021-22 through 2023-24 seasons. The sixth-year guard obviously has fantastic shooting skill. He\u2019ll have inevitable down stretches this year, but it does appear Maxey is in the opening stages of a bounce-back shooting season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

1st look at Watford\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sixers head coach Nick Nurse used every available player in his rotation Tuesday besides rookies Hunter Sallis and Johni Broome and veteran Kyle Lowry. Justin Edwards got his first start of the season.<\/p>\n

Trendon Watford joined the Sixers\u2019 second unit for the first time, returning from a left hamstring injury to make his debut.<\/p>\n

He entered late in the first quarter and had a turnover on his first play, throwing a pass out to the perimeter that Cam Whitmore intercepted and took the other way for a dunk. Watford soon settled in. The Sixers effectively shifted to zone defense at the start of the second quarter and wiped out their deficit. Watford fed Jabari Walker for a layup that knotted the game at 42-all.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even in 18 minutes, Watford showed his considerable passing ability and overall comfort in the open floor shined. He ended the evening with two points, four rebounds and three assists. <\/p>\n

Comeback magic <\/p>\n

VJ Edgecombe was peripheral for most of the first half. He had no shot attempts until there was 4:07 left in the second quarter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Notably, the Wizards game was the conclusion of Edgecombe\u2019s first NBA back-to-back and he logged 39 stellar minutes the night prior in the Sixers\u2019 win over the Magic.<\/a> He\u2019s surely felt fresher than he did Tuesday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The rookie grew more aggressive as the game wore on. He converted a four-point play with 0.9 seconds to play in the second quarter, cutting the Wizards\u2019 advantage to 72-68. Edgecombe played 40 minutes against Washington and had 14 points, six rebounds and four assists. <\/p>\n

The Wizards’ lead ballooned early in the third quarter. Stops were in short supply for the Sixers and Washington’s pace remained superior. The Wizards went up 95-76 on a Khris Middleton three.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Sixers could’ve easily chalked the game up as a loss, but they didn’t let Washington coast to victory. Bona closed the game at center and dialed up the defensive intensity, blocking four shots in the fourth quarter and one in overtime.<\/p>\n

The Wizards became nervy and the Sixers kept exerting major pressure. <\/p>\n

Quentin Grimes (23 points) made an immense impact down the stretch on both ends. He had a crucial steal, a block on Bub Carrington\u2019s three-point attempt, and a jumper that trimmed the Sixers\u2019 deficit to 126-121. Maxey followed with a long two and the Sixers then forced a shot-clock violation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the ensuing possession, Grimes came off a flare screen and nailed a game-tying three with 38.7 seconds to go. The sizable contingent of Sixers fans in attendance exulted. <\/p>\n

Bona then rejected a CJ McCollum layup attempt \u2014upon review, the officials overturned the initial goaltending call \u2014 but the Wizards won the subsequent jump ball. However, Middleton missed a game-winning mid-range try over Grimes at the buzzer.<\/p>\n

Kyshawn George scored the first five points of overtime and the Sixers’ offense struggled to find answers. <\/p>\n

Edgecombe traveled and missed a three. As a team, the Sixers were scoreless for the first three minutes of OT. <\/p>\n

Their defense stayed stingy, though. A Maxey driving layup trimmed the Wizards’ lead to 131-130. Bona slammed home a put-back dunk on the Sixers’ next trip and got swarmed by his teammates on the way back to the bench. <\/p>\n

Bona maintained his gargantuan rim protection to preserve the lead. <\/p>\n

He leapt to contest a George miss inside and swatted a McCollum layup. Maxey and Grimes polished the game off with clutch free throws and the Sixers celebrated a truly stunning win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 The Sixers have four wins in four tries and Tuesday\u2019s comeback against the Wizards was the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5955,69,1002,71,70,10793,10794,12919,12920],"class_list":["post-18304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-joel-embiid","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-sixers-analysis","tag-sixers-news","tag-sixers-observations","tag-tyrese-maxey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}