2025-26 Sixers Bell Ringer season standings:
Tyrese Maxey – 22.5
VJ Edgecombe – 13
Joel Embiid – 11.5
Paul George – 8
Kelly Oubre Jr. – 5
Justin Edwards – 4
Quentin Grimes – 3
Jared McCain :’( – 3
Dominick Barlow – 2
Andre Drummond – 2
MarJon Beauchamp – 2
Adem Bona – 1
Cam Payne – 1
Jabari Walker – 1
Trendon Watford – 1
15th roster spot – 1
The Philadelphia 76ers fell to the Houston Rockets 113-102 on Thursday night to conclude a nightmare day for the Sixers.
Joel Embiid was a surprise scratch on Wednesday
afternoon, being ruled out for illness before it was announced that Embiid was suffering from appendicitis and would undergo surgery today in Houston. During the game, the team released a statement that the center had undergone a successful appendectomy.
A night that was supposed to feature a major, pivotal contest for the Sixers quickly devolved into kind of a sad mess. This one felt like it was already over when the afternoon news dropped, and the Sixers’ performance out of the gate didn’t exactly inspire any optimism to the contrary. Philadelphia went down by more than 20 points before halftime, with the absence of Embiid palpable throughout.
For awhile, it looked like the game was just about over. In the fourth period, though, the Sixers put up a solid fight, clawing back to within five points in the final few minutes. It was the first real signs of life from the squad we saw all night. They outscored the Rockets 29-17 in the final frame, but it wasn’t enough to complete the comeback. The Sixers fall 113-102 on Thursday.
Two games still remain in the regular season for Philadelphia, but this loss (combined with the Toronto Raptors’ win) just severely reduced the odds of the Sixers clawing back into a guaranteed playoff spot. It is all but guaranteed now that the Sixers are headed for the Play-In Tournament.
First, though, they still have two regular season games to go. They’ll play the first of the final pair on Friday night, closing their 16th and final back-to-back with a visit to the Indiana Pacers.
Let’s get to the Bell Ringer. And yes, we know this is kind of pointing out the tiniest silver lining surrounding a gigantic storm cloud.
Kelly Oubre Jr.: 16 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 block
Kelly Oubre Jr. hasn’t been exactly tearing it up the last few games, but he looked hot to start this one. Oubre was the first on the floor to 10 points in the first period, beginning the game 4-for-4 from the floor and 2-for-2 from long range. It’s a good thing, too, because he was just about the only person for the Sixers that could produce offensively early on Thursday night.
Oubre cooled off from there, but continued to chip in on both ends of the floor when the opportunities presented themselves. It was a pretty efficient outing from him as well, with him shooting 7-for-10 from the floor and 2-for-4 from long range.
A perfect night overall? No, but we just need to shout him out because he was the only one keeping this from getting completely out of hand before we even made it out of the first frame.
Oubre finished Thursday with 16 points, four rebounds, one assist, three steals and one block.
VJ Edgecombe: 20 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals
VJ Edgecombe chipped in points throughout this one but, as he has so many times this season, the rookie really showed off his abilities down the stretch as the Sixers put up their late fight in the fourth quarter. Even faced with what feels like insurmountable deficits or just truly tough nights on this team, Edgecombe never seems to give up or phone it in when he’s on the floor. He continues to impress with play making for his teammates while also creating opportunities for himself beyond what you can expect from your typical rookie, like the late bucket below where he dances right around guys like Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun for a tough finish through contact at the rim. He was a crucial part of the Sixers’ late comeback push on both ends of the floor, coming up with a few clutch points and making some defensive plays.
Edgecombe finished Thursday with 20 points, six rebounds (three offensive), eight assists and two steals.
Tyrese Maxey: 24 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists
Tyrese Maxey, coming off one of his worst games in his NBA career in his 40-minute, 15-point performance against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday, looked like he might be continuing that pattern on Thursday night. He still just looked off, with sloppy turnovers and a poor touch on the ball apparently early in this one. Fortunately, things turned around for him in the second quarter. After a scoreless first, Maxey got into a groove for 15 points on 6-for-9 field goal and 3-for-4 long range shooting in the second.
The Sixers were already down about 20 points by then, but it’s still never a bad thing to see one of your players work through a slump and figure it out a bit. It wasn’t as if every single shot was falling, with Maxey finishing the night 9-for-20 from the floor, but seeing a few go in and especially hitting five triples on 10 attempts hopefully helped the guard a bit mentally going as we go into the close of the regular season.
Maxey finished Thursday with 24 points, three rebounds and five assists in just over 33 minutes. It’s still a very far cry from the level of play we all know Maxey is capable of at his best, but it’s a step in the right direction compared to where we started the week, for sure.
Quentin Grimes: 20 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal
Quentin Grimes provided a decent offensive punch off the bench for the Sixers tonight, especially as they strung together that late-game run that saw Philly cut their deficit down to just five points (after being down over 20 at some points). After putting up just a handful of points in the entire first half, Q hit a few buckets to close the third quarter before bursting for 11 points in the final frame, mostly early in the period when the Sixers took advantage of Durant being on the bench to put a dent in their deficit.
The Quentin Grimes experience has been up and down this season to say the least, with the guard having moments of performing well separated by plays and games that have you confused what he’s trying to accomplish. Tonight wasn’t a perfect night by any means, but it was truly one of the better performances from Grimes as of late, especially down the stretch.
Grimes finished with 20 points, two rebounds and one steal in 26:29 off the bench.
NOT the Miami Heat
Couldn’t help the Sixers at all, huh? The Toronto Raptors are the wall between the Sixers making the playoffs or the Play-In. They faced the Miami Heat twice this week, on Tuesday and tonight. A win (or two) would have gone a long way to helping the Sixers have a shot at climbing back over them for that No. 6 seed.
Instead, the Heat lost both games by double digits. Thanks for nothing, Miami!
Don’t get me the wrong, the Sixers’ finish will be completely of their own making… but still, we wouldn’t have argued with a little outside help.
