2025-26 Sixers Bell Ringer season standings:
Tyrese Maxey – 22
Joel Embiid – 9
VJ Edgecombe – 9
Paul George – 6
Kelly Oubre Jr. – 4
Justin Edwards – 3
Jared McCain :’( – 3
Dominick Barlow – 2
Andre Drummond – 2
MarJon Beauchamp – 1
Adem Bona – 1
Quentin Grimes – 1
Cam Payne – 1
Jabari Walker – 1
Trendon Watford – 1
15th roster spot – 1
Just when I think this team couldn’t possibly surprise me, they exceed my expectations (negatively).
Despite trying their hardest seemingly to lose at the end, the Philadelphia
76ers escaped Saturday afternoon with a close 104-97 win over the Brooklyn Nets.
The Sixers were again wildly shorthanded, remaining without Joel Embiid (oblique), Tyrese Maxey (finger), Paul George (suspension), Kelly Oubre Jr. (elbow), Andre Drummond (back) and Johni Broome (knee). They got Adem Bona back in the lineup, who had missed the last contest due to back soreness, but lost Jabari Walker, who missed this one due to illness.
They faced off against a tanking Brooklyn Nets team with more than a handful of injury outages themselves.
So, yet another contest of stoppable force against moveable object.
Fortunately, this iteration of the Nets made the Sixers look like a real basketball team at times. By halftime, Philadelphia had already built a 22-point lead, thanks in part to Brooklyn only managing 31 points on just 11 field goals made by the break. Everything was going as well as one could ask for, with the Sixers leading by as much as 28 in the third frame (which they still managed to lose, by the way).
In the fourth, things shifted. The Sixers were ice cold from three, couldn’t buy a bucket and the Nets began capitalizing. Suddenly, we had a single-digit game once again. Brooklyn took their first lead of the game with just over three minutes to play. Despite being outscored 41-27 in the last quarter and really looking like they were about to drop a game to a 17-win team, the Sixers were able to regain control and escape with a 104-97 win.
This was the first leg of a back-to-back (yes, another one) for the Sixers, who will host the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday evening.
Until then, let’s get to the Bell Ringer.
VJ Edgecombe: 16 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, 1 block
After a tough game for the rookie on Thursday, shooting just 3-for-14 against the Detroit Pistons, it was great to see VJ Edgecombe get this one started off on the right foot. Or should I say on really no feet, since he spent a lot of the first quarter soaring for a few of his high-flying dunks. Those highlights are always fun of course, but even more encouraging is seeing Edgecombe just efficiently using his speed and fancy footwork in isolation to finishing at the rim or hitting the jumper. After one quarter, he led with 10 points on 5-for-8 field goal shooting with one assist, two steals and one block.
His personal scoring slowed a bit from there, but Edgecombe continued to run the offense by serving up some amazing passes to set up his teammates for open, easy buckets. The rookie is already wise beyond his years in terms of understanding the amount of attention he is going to garner with the current lineup the Sixers are having to run with, and he’s taking advantage of it to create a ton of space and opportunities for his floormates (when the openings aren’t there for him to just score himself).
If anything, Edgecombe might have started deferring to playmaking over scoring a little too much as this one went on. It’s good the rookie doesn’t want to be a selfish player, but he should be taking a lot more than 13 shots in games like this.
Edgecombe finished the game with 16 points (6-for-13 field goal shooting) with four rebounds, seven assists, two steals and one block.
Justin Edwards: 19 points (9-for-13 FG), 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks
Justin Edwards has really impressed me the last few games. Of course, the makeup of the team is very unusual right now, but he’s making the most of his opportunities to try some different things and get better at what he’s good at. Where I feel like Edwards has struggled in the past — not being aggressive enough to get to the paint and finish there rather than just taking some threes here and there — he has been much better these last few contests. And he’s not doing it all willy-nilly either, he’s actively waiting for and attacking closeouts to create good opportunities for himself and finishing well at the rim.
Not only that, but he’s been one of the best, most active defenders the Sixers have had as of late. Edwards had three steals and two blocks today.
It very likely helps Edwards (and other guys further down the depth chart) to know that he won’t be pulled from a game after one or two missed shots or a bad defensive play — it’s certainly showing in his confidence level on the floor.
Edwards finished this one with 19 points on 9-for-13 field goal shooting with four rebounds, two assists, three steals and two blocks.
Quentin Grimes: 28 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal
Quentin Grimes led the scoring today for Philadelphia by way of shooting early and often, starting with a three from the top of the key just a few minutes in and not stopping until he made a crucial late bucket to help the Sixers survive the Nets’ comeback. He was also one of the Sixers’ more active, effective rebounders today with eight boards, something the squad needs all the help they can get with considering they have just one available center in the lineup.
I’ll be honest, though, Grimes’ shot selection leaves a lot to be desired in my eyes. He took a lot of shots I wouldn’t have considered to be the Sixer’s best option on the floor, including a lot of long twos. Fortunately, he was sinking a decent amount of those today… but he also missed plenty, and has missed plenty of those types of bad shots in the past. Maybe it’s just me, but it just seems like sometimes Grimes’ stats make it look like he played a better game than he actually did.
That being said, he did lead the Sixers in scoring today, so we must give credit where credit is due.
Grimes finished the game leading the field with 28 points on 10-for-22 field goal shooting. He also had eight rebounds, four assists and a steal.
