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#SixersAfterDark with only a small risk of blowing a 20-point lead. How pleasant.
Philadelphia won their fourth game in a row, taking down the LA Clippers 128-113 Monday night.
Tyrese Maxey caught fire from three, going for a game-high 29 points on 9-of-18 shooting as well as six assists. Joel Embiid came alive in the second half to finish with 24 points shooting 8-of-19 from the floor.
VJ Edgecombe was cold from the floor but found ways to be productive, having five points on 1-of-11 shooting with
three rebounds and seven assists.Dominick Barlow put up a career-high 26 going 10-of-16 from the floor along with 16 rebounds and two steals. Kawhi Leonard led LA with 29 as well.
Paul George was the lone Sixer out with his suspension while the Clippers were without James Harden and Derrick Jones Jr.
Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.
First Quarter
- It was quite a start for the Sixers, opening the game on a 18-2 run. Maxey started hot with a couple threes falling away. The Clippers looked every bit like a team that played the night before. Three of their first four turnovers were just because they dropped the ball.
- Barlow got a couple of hustle buckets, putting back two missed Embiid shots and finishing a backdoor cut. He was quickly fueling the offense with his putbacks. He intercepted a bounce pass and took it all the way, reaching 11 points, which was a career-high for him in a first quarter.
- Things looked a bit more conventional when Maxey got going again, drilling another pair of threes after getting to the line. He seemed to really want to show off his stepback three, trying it on three of his five attempts. His heat check to close the quarter didn’t go, but he still helped power the Sixers to a 21-point lead.
Second Quarter
- The staggering changed up again, with Edgecombe leading the second unit along with Jared McCain. Edgecombe found McCain coming off a screen for a three. Adem Bona rolled open to the basket and kicked it to Quentin Grimes to take advantage of a wide open runway and posterize John Collins. The dunk was not only Grimes’ best play in quite some time, but encouraged Edgecombe to drive to do the same over the next few possessions.
- It was quickly becoming the Dominick Barlow Game, with him picking up another putback upon returning to the game and shortly picked up a steal as well, completing that fast break with a give-and-go with Edgecombe. The Clippers’ eight turnovers had really kept them in a hole despite shooting 56% from the field.
- The heavy doubles the Sixers threw at Leonard helped generate some of those turnovers, but they didn’t slow him down much with his 13 points in the half. LA’s offense predictably wasn’t able to do much without him. On the other end of the floor, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Grimes hit corner threes, and Edgecombe finally made his first field goal with one as well to keep the Sixers at a 19-point lead at the half.
Third Quarter
- After a slow start, Embiid knocked down a jumper on three possessions in a row, surpassing his first half total. While Edgecombe did not find the same rhythm, missing on the open threes swung to him, he was plenty involved. He assisted on two of those Embiid jumpers working the two-man game.
- The game came screeching to a halt thanks to two Clippers challenges — one successful, one unsuccessful. The Clippers finally started to take advantage of the odd man advantages, slowly chipping away at the lead. Embiid settled things down with a couple looks from the nail before Barlow got another putback, getting fouled in the process as well.
- The offense slowed down again after Maxey followed up that and-1 with a jumper. Some fresh faces helped that as Grimes checked into the game and knocked down a three coming off a screen. On the next possession he kept his head up on a drive to find McCain wide open in the corner, helping the Sixers stay ahead by 13.
Fourth Quarter
- A bad pass that didn’t make it to Embiid to close the third got McCain benched to start the fourth though. The shot quality had dipped a bit, but tough makes from Maxey and Oubre kept them afloat. Truly everything was coming up Barlow. After an and-1 drive he had a corner three take three or four bounces off the rim before falling in.
- For every time the Clippers did threaten to make things interesting, the Sixers were able to come up with a shot or two to keep them at bay. Embiid made up for a turnover by capping off a nice second half with a couple more jumpers. Another Maxey stepback three made the Clippers wave the white flag with about four minutes to go.
