This team just loves winning in the most dramatic fashion, huh?
The Sixers came from behind to beat the LA Clippers 110-108 in another game that came down to the wire Monday night
Tyrese Maxey again put
in quite the effort to be the game’s leading scorer, going for 39 and six assists shooting 13-of-27 from the field, but he also turned it over twice in the final 14 seconds of the game.
Quentin Grimes went for 19 points on top of phenomenal defense once he was switched onto James Harden. VJ Edgecombe again had his moments, going for 14 points on 6-of-13 shooting along with six rebounds and six assists. Andre Drummond had 14 points and 18 boards.
Paul George, in his season debut had nine points, shooting 2-of-9 from the floor along with seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks in 21:06 of playing time. Harden led the Clippers with 28.
Joel Embiid missed his third straight game with a right knee injury. Kelly Oubre Jr. (knee) and Adem Bona (ankle) were both out as well after suffering injuries last week vs. Detroit. On the second night of a back-to-back, the Clippers were without Kawhi Leonard as well as Bradley Beal and Derrick Jones Jr.
Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.
First Quarter
- George couldn’t have asked for a better first minute of the season. He came around a screen to knock down a three for the game’s first points of the night. On the following possession he caught Kobe Sanders’ hand in the cookie jar, and made two of his subsequent three free throws. It took the rest of the Sixers another three minutes to score though, and the Clippers ripped off a 14-0 run in the meantime to get ahead early. George’s first shift of the night lasted about five and a half minutes.
- The rest of the team finally got on the board with a nice little Edgecombe pull up in the paint, but that didn’t exactly open the floodgates. When the Sixers did try to move the ball they were just a tick late on passes — that, or the read wasn’t as open as they thought it was.
- Offensively, they weren’t able to shake that clunkiness as they shot 37.5% from the field in the quarter. Defensively, they didn’t have much of an answer for Ivica Zubac and even less for Harden. They tried a lot of options early, even throwing a box-and-1 at him. It was Justin Edwards who ended up getting that assignment for an extended stretch. Once some threes fell for Harden, Edwards had a hard time staying in front of him. Harden’s 17 helped the Clippers get out to an eight-point lead.
Second Quarter
- Back from his two-game G-League assignment, Jared McCain was out there to start the quarter. It looks like the Sixers are using George’s minutes similar to Embiid’s at the start of the season, getting his shifts out of the way to start the quarter. McCain once again struggled to get involved, not even getting a shot up in his five minutes. George was able to get an eight-footer to go as both teams traded baskets.
- The only positive about the offense early was that it was perhaps the most aggressive Edgecombe has looked in some time — that and the offensive rebounding efforts of Edwards and Dominick Barlow. Edgecombe had a couple of good looking makes in the paint and wanted to get it early, but like his teammates, struggled to create quality attempts. He went 3-of-7 in the half for seven points.
- Thanks to some difficult shot-making from Maxey, the Sixers were able to claw back as the Clippers’ offense came back to earth a little bit. The Sixers got their first easy basket of the night when Maxey found Barlow for a push shot, but they erased that momentum by picking up a defensive three-second violation. A couple LA threes got their lead right back up to 10 at the half.
Third Quarter
- Desperate for offense, the Sixers opened the second half with Grimes in place of Barlow. It still took them over four minutes to get a field goal that wasn’t in transition, but it was a highly contested three by Grimes with a hand in his face and the shot clock winding down.
- A big reason to have any kind of optimism about George for this year is he is just too good of a shooter to shoot as poorly as he did last season. It wasn’t very reassuring then when he had missed three free throws by the halfway mark of the third. The Sixers just kept shooting themselves in the foot, which helped the Clippers extend their lead anytime it got within a possession or two.
- It was concerning to see the Sixers struggle to make progress because they tightened up a lot defensively. Switching Grimes onto Harden worked — he only scored one point since the first quarter until Grimes checked out of the game. It felt like even getting paint touches was daunting for the Sixers and the Clippers knew it and punished them for it. After an even quarter, the Sixers still found themselves trailing by 10.
Fourth Quarter
- A pindown screen freeing Maxey for an open three was just what the Sixers needed to open the quarter, as was the Edgecombe floater and corner three from Drummond on following possessions. After a couple back-and-forth possessions LA called timeout up six hoping to stop any momentum.
- One bummer of a rotation note is that it did appear that McCain’s night was done after playing just those five minutes in the second quarter. How he’s supposed to get in a rhythm playing less than 10 minutes a night is anyone’s guess. It also appeared that George’s night was done when he checked out with just under nine minutes to go.
- Coming out of that timeout, the Sixers had easily their best possession of the night. Grimes was able get to the paint, kick out it out, and have the ball swung to an open Maxey three-pointer. Maxey followed it up with an incredibly tough and-1, and it felt like they were trying their hardest to capture the energy of the building. It wasn’t resulting in a ton of steals, but they got their hands on a lot of Clippers’ passes and shots which was plenty disruptive.
- In a rare moment this season, the burden of coming up with baskets down the stretch was not placed solely on the shoulders on Maxey. Edgecombe knocked down a three to retake the lead and Grimes followed that up with a block from behind on Harden. Grimes seemed to be having the easiest time getting to the rim off the dribble, and he showed it off with a layup, then on a dunk on ensuing possessions.
- After that flurry from Grimes, the Sixers were in good position, up four with Edgecombe going to the free throw line. The rookie missed both. That was a big four-point swing as the Clippers successfully got two at the line next their next trip down the floor. They got those points back though when a challenge went their way. A loose-ball foul originally called on Drummond was overturned to a foul on Zubac, and Drummond sank his pair.
- With the potential to seal the game, Harden got his hand on a Maxey pass, getting the ball back to the Clippers who cut the lead to two with 14 seconds remaining. They were able to steal the inbound from Maxey on a play that was also overturned by review. Harden went for the three and the win, he missed and even got his own rebound, but his second attempt was off as well and the Sixers again, somehow, were able to survive.
