Ladies and gentlemen, postseason basketball has arrived!
The seventh-seed Sixers welcomed the eighth-seed Orlando Magic to Xfinity Mobile Arena in South Philly on Wednesday night for an Eastern Conference battle in the Play-In Tournament. The reward for the winner? A date with the Boston Celtics in the first round of the actual NBA Playoffs, starting on Sunday in Boston.
The Sixers, as we all knew, were without the services of their superstar center Joel Embiid, who is less than a week removed from
an emergency appendectomy performed last week. There is currently no timeline for a potential return from Embiid, but he was on the sideline Thursday night to cheer on his teammates.
The Sixers got out to an early lead in this one behind nine points apiece in the first frame from Kelly Oubre Jr. and Tyrese Maxey. Oubre paced the Sixers early, burying three triples including one right before the first quarter buzzer, giving the Sixers a 28-24 lead after one.
After zero buckets from him in the first quarter, Paul George was the one to get things going to start the second. George knocked down four shots in the period including one from beyond the arc and went into halftime with 11 points. Maxey continued his stellar play led the Sixers at the break with 16 points of his own. The Sixers finished the half on a 9-0 run to go to the intermission with a 59-55 lead. At that point, the Magic were being carried by Desmond Bane, who led all scorers with 19 first-half points. Paolo Banchero wasn’t too far behind him, pouring in 13 in the first two quarters.
A chippy contest throughout, tempers flared in the third quarter as the refs had to separate the two teams on multiple occasions. The play on the court matched the level of the extracurricular activities with both teams trading tough buckets. Bane continued to cook for the Magic, leading the floor yet again after three frames with 28 points.
The Sixers held a 79-74 advantage headed to the final period. Twelve minutes away from the playoffs. What could go wrong?
(Fortunately, for once in Sixers’ history, things actually just went relatively well.)
A huge fourth quarter by numerous Sixers finally sealed this one in favor of Philadelphia. Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Andre Drummond, and Oubre all hit timely buckets and made key stops to propel the Sixers to victory — and to the NBA playoffs for the eighth time in nine years.
Next up is a best-of-seven First Round series against the Boston Celtics. The Sixers will be… very large underdogs. But enough about that for now!
Time for the Bell Ringer.
Tyrese Maxey: 31 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 block
Tyrese Maxey was a constant contributor throughout this one for Philadelphia, but his biggest burst came in the fourth quarter, including a personal 7-0 run against the Magic towards the beginning of the frame.
Maxey constant pace and rim pressure were too much for Orlando to handle all night, and Maxey took full advantage. He got downhill with momentum on his side as often as he could, dancing through the Magic defense and often finishing in that acrobatic way we all know he can, even through a lot of contact on more than a few occasions. Whether it was that or creating just a modicum of sink to take a jumper, Maxey was in his bag tonight and it was fantastic to see, especially after seeing how he had struggled to get into a groove in some games to close the regular season.
The Sixers’ All-Star guard rose the occasion as a leader once again. With Embiid sidelined, Maxey’s leadership statistically and simply in commanding his team was more crucial than ever, and he certainly delivered on Thursday.
Maxey finished the night with 31 points on 11-for-25 field goal shooting (3-for-9 from long range) with six assists, one steal and one block.
VJ Edgecombe: 19 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal
The Sixers rookie sensation just etched another chapter into his incredible freshman season in the NBA.
As he has all year, Edgecombe put in multiple acrobatic, crowd-pleasing finishes and sank some sincerely tough jumpers that most first-year players are simply not going to hit. Even putting aside the buckets, though, the rookie put up solid defense and team-leading rebounding in this one. Edgecombe pulled down 11 rebounds (beating Andre Drummond by just one to lead the squad) and had a bevy of deflections as well.
Edgecombe put up exactly the type of performance the Sixers needed from their rookie — and that’s a lot to ask of a 20-year-old! But, again, he rose to meet the large expectations.
Edgecombe finished Thursday with a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double with an assist and a steal.
Andre Drummond: 14 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2-for-3 from three
What a night from the NBA vet in Andre Drummond.
It has been an up and down season for Drummond with the Sixers. At times, he was an absolute unexpected hero, especially with a big role to fill at the times Embiid has been unavailable. Other times, though, a different Drummond seemed to be on the floor, one that was seemingly stuck in place at times and less agile — one that looked 32.
Tonight, Drummond looked as good, if not better, than the young guns in their early 20s. His stats speak for themselves in this one, which will get to in a second, but I’d argue he did even better than the numbers would have one believe. Even coming in off the bench after Adem Bona was started in the five spot, Drummond went right to work as a massive impact on both ends of the floor for Philadelphia.
It honestly might have been the veteran’s best defensive night of the entire season so far, getting up in the air and altering shots at the rim, collecting three blocks for his efforts. He was also an aggressive and efficient rebounder for the Sixers and even had a few really solid passes — again, a few that might have been the best we’ve seen all season from him.
Drummond came up with that third and final block on one of the Magic’s final possessions as they tried to claw back into the game. Then, in very appropriate fashion, Drum hit the dagger with his second corner three of the contest, putting things out of reach of Orlando and squashing their last speck of hope to make some sort of last-second comeback.
Drummond finished the game with a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double. He shot 4-for-8 from the floor and 2-for-3 from beyond the arc. He also had two assists, three steals and those three blocks we mentioned.
Kelly Oubre: 19 points (5-for-10 3PT), 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal
Kelly Oubre Jr.’s performance might be a bit overshadowed by some flashier teammates’ tonight, but no one should discount the impact he had on the Sixers pulling out the win in this one.
He was the first one for Philadelphia to really get going on the offensive end, hitting three triples in the first frame for a team-high nine points. As his teammates began to produce more offensively, Oubre’s night scoring slowed but certainly didn’t stop. Orlando seemed to not learn from their mistake of leaving Oubre with space on the arc, so he kept firing away. He finished the game with a floor-leading five triples made.
In addition to just the sheer energy boost he undoubtedly brings to this Sixers lineup, Oubre has the ability to impact games like Thursday by simply sticking to what’s working. It hasn’t been a problem as much this season as in the past, but Oubre can still have moments of trying to do a bit too much, often leading to a lot of sloppy mistakes and inefficient shooting. Not tonight. He was exactly who the Sixers needed him to be, not a player trying to perform beyond his abilities, but one sticking to his strengths and ready whenever his number was called.
Oubre finished Thursday with 19 points (6-for-12 field goal shooting, 5-for-10 three-point shooting) with three rebounds, one assist and one steal.
