VJ Edgecombe never truly hit the proverbial rookie wall. Sure, he had ups and downs like any first-year player, but it was less peaks and valleys and more open road with a few speed bumps.
But his most important test came Wednesday night as the seventh-seeded Sixers hosted the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic in the NBA’s Play-In Tournament. He was up for it, stuffing the stat sheet and flying around the floor in the Sixers’ 109-97 win at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
In case you couldn’t tell, Edgecombe was a bit
excited for his first taste of postseason basketball.
“I was tweaking a little bit tonight,” he said postgame. “But I was able to settle in a little bit, calm down.”
Generally, a young player will either not be aggressive enough and need a push or be overaggressive and need to be reined in. Most coaches will tell you they prefer the latter.
“I thought he made some … a little bit off-the-script decisions tonight with the ball,” Nick Nurse said postgame, “but didn’t matter the rest of the game. He was flying for rebounds, he was guarding really hard.”
Edgecombe chuckled when asked about his head coach’s analysis.
“I guess it happens when you let a kid play in such a high-intensity game, but I was out there having fun,” he said. “If I gotta play wild for us to win, I’ll play wild.”
It wasn’t the most efficient night as Edgecombe went 7-of-16 from the field and 1-of-5 from three. He also had four turnovers, perhaps the excitement leading to overzealousness.
But it’s impossible to deny the impact he made. He scored 19 points, but maybe his most important stat of the night was his 11 rebounds, all on the defensive end. The Magic finished 12th in the NBA in offensive rebounding percentage during the regular season. You will not be surprised to learn, dear reader, that the Sixers were 26th in the NBA in defensive rebounding percentage.
Much was made about Orlando’s size and physicality entering this game, but it felt like the Sixers were the aggressors all night.
Early on, Kelly Oubre Jr. delivered an obvious illegal screen to Franz Wagner. Oubre then proceeded to get into a verbal fracas with Paolo Banchero, resulting in double technicals. The message seemed clear: the Sixers were not going to be bullied.
Edgecombe was right in the thick of it all.
The Sixers were on Banchero’s hip all night, forcing six turnovers on him alone. In the middle of the third, Paul George, who was excellent defensively, picked Banchero’s pocket. He then flipped a pass ahead to Edgcombe with just the feisty Jalen Suggs in his path. Edgecombe went right at him, with All-Defensive Team pick just sort of helplessly retreating. It was a pretty finish for the rookie and the bucket extended the lead to 11.
But Edgecombe again got a little wild, getting right in Suggs’ face on the landing. The officials, who really officiated the hell out of this one (derogatory), reviewed the play and hit Edgecombe with a technical for taunting.
“It got a little chippy early,” he said. “We’re out there hooping, I just thought my momentum took me all the way there. … That’s what I was telling (crew chief) Tony (Brothers), but he wasn’t buying it. … I don’t know, man. I wasn’t a fan of it, but it’s cool.”
With the Sixers clinging to a five-point lead late in the fourth, they really needed a good possession. They got one as Andre Drummond, who was fantastic Wednesday, hit Edgecombe with a nice pass on a cut. Edgecombe met Wendell Carter Jr. at the rim and completed a tough, physical finish.
In his excitement, the 20-year-old flexed his muscles.
“You like that?” Edgecombe asked the reporter with a laugh. “I just tried to muscle my way through and finish. And obviously, they have a good rim protector, so just try to go through his chest, make a good finish and then flex on them a little bit, ya know?”
Tyrese Maxey, who led the Sixers with 31 points, wasn’t amused in the moment, but could laugh postgame at his rook’s exuberance.
“He made a layup today and he was screaming and I was like, ‘please, get back.’” Maxey said. “But VJ is great. He’s gonna be perfectly fine. His demeanor is great. His work ethic is great. … The winning basketball plays he makes, that’s what’s special about him.”
Edgecombe spoke to reporters with the energy of a child recapping all the cool gifts he got for Christmas. His desire to compete is so obvious.
Coming out of the draft, Edgecombe got some Jimmy Butler comparisons. You could sort of see it with Edgecombe’s athleticism, frame and two-way play.
But the biggest takeaway about Edgecombe Wednesday is that, like Butler, he is a dog.
“He always just seems to make winning basketball plays,” said George. “He just has so many intangibles that contributes to winning. He’s built for the playoffs. The teams that succeed are full of those kind of guys. Once everything else starts to click, man — he’s continuing to prove that he’s special.”
As the Sixers embark on a series with the Boston Celtics, a team chock full of winning players, Edgecombe’s value only becomes more apparent. He had to contend with jumbo-sized playmakers in Banchero and Wagner. The job doesn’t get any easier with Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum looming in the first round.
Edgecombe knows what to expect.
“They’re just going to try and bully. That’s all,” he said. “They’re going to put their head down, so I just try to beat them to the spot. The ball gotta touch the floor, so as soon as the ball touch the floor, I try to poke at it. … Obviously, [Banchero and Wagner are] like 6-10, but I ain’t scared of nobody. … Regardless of who you is, I’m gonna try and I ain’t scared. I ain’t gonna back up if you’re running at me. You just gotta run me over.“
Who knows how Edgecombe will fare in his first NBA Playoff series, but, much like his performance in Boston on opening night, you know he’ll be ready.
“I love Philly fans,” he said. “They were loud. the intensity, the physicality — it was great. That’s the type of game I live for.”
