It’s been a while since this one could be used but that is 1-2-3-4-5 wins in a row for the Sixers.
Philadelphia swept their back-to-back with a 113-94 win over a shorthanded Golden State Warriors Tuesday night, their first five-game winning streak since the end of the 2023-24 season.
VJ Edgecombe bounced back with his first 20-point game in two weeks, leading all scorers with 25 with seven rebounds shooting 11-of-20 from the floor.
Tyrese Maxey dealt with a swarming defense all night, finishing with as
good a 14-point and seven-assist game as possible. Kelly Oubre Jr. carried the Sixers from deep, putting up 15 points shooting 4-of-12 from the field and 4-of-10 from three-point range. Gui Santos and Pat Spencer led Golden State with 13 apiece.
On the second night of a back-to-back the Sixers were without Joel Embiid, out with right ankle injury management on top of Paul George’s suspension. The Warriors were without Steph Curry, Jonathan Kuminga, and Jimmy Butler who’s out for the season.
Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.
First Quarter
- A much slower start than the previous night with the Warriors chasing Maxey off the ball. Two of their first three field goals of the night were Andre Drummond putbacks, though Dominick Barlow carried something over hitting the Sixers’ first three of the night.
- Playing against an old team of his, Oubre found his shooting stroke early with a pair of threes. He was also one of the four Sixers to pick up a steal in the first as they forced seven turnovers. When they were able to take care of the ball the Warriors shot 57% from three.
- After sputtering for a couple of minutes, the Sixers’ offense got a quick flurry to end the quarter. Edgecombe got to the basket off the dribble, Adem Bona was actually able to do the same off a hand off. Trendon Watford got some earlier run and hit a couple push shots, the second cutting the Warriors’ lead to one.
Second Quarter
- Carrying over from the first, the Sixers capped off a 14-0 run with an impressive alley-oop to Bona thrown by Quentin Grimes. Both Edgecombe and Grimes had good moments off the dribble in this stretch, each of them drilling threes in response to the Warriors’ baskets that had ended the run.
- Speaking of former teams, it was De’Anthony Melton and Buddy Hield trying to get the Warriors back on track. Their three-point shooting had cooled down, missing six of their first seven of the second. Grimes and Edgecombe had not cooled down though, growing the Sixers’ lead to as big as 15.
- That was erased in quick fashion thanks to a 10-0 Golden State run. Drummond had a rougher second go with two ugly turnovers. Oubre also coughed up an easy fast break opportunity getting tunnel vision on a drive. The Sixers didn’t score a field goal for the last 6:13 of the half after a Grimes three. A reckless closeout by Moses Moody on a Maxey three helped them scrape by to the break with a three-point lead.
Third Quarter
- The field goal drought continued as it took the Sixers three minutes to make their first of the half with a tough Edgecombe floater. The good thing was not only was Barlow rebounding just about every miss, but the Warriors also couldn’t score for the first four minutes of the half.
- A three from Hield opened up the lid back up again, but Edgecombe had baskets to answer. He tried to run fast off of misses, getting fouled on one aggressive drive attempt and making a layup on another. A few possessions later he hit their second three in a row that was the result of good ball movement.
- That didn’t last for long as the Warriors shot just 28% from the field in the quarter. The Sixers had a chance to really stretch their lead but mistakes and bad bounces got in the way. They had several bunnies spin out late in the quarter. Still, after a three from Melton with time winding down the Sixers were still on top by 13.
Fourth Quarter
- Edgecombe remained in control, kicking off the quarter with a fadeaway jumper from the baseline. Watford had missed some of those bunnies in the third but got on target again with his driving push shots. Drummond was able to redeem himself as well with a wild drive.
- The only bummer was that Jared McCain had another short leash on the night, not seeing any minutes in the second half even after/until the benches had emptied. He missed both of his shots in the first half, one of them getting thoroughly swatted. Ironically, the Sixers finally started to hit some threes as a team to put the game away. Drummond got involved in that as well, hitting his first three since early January.
