DETROIT -- The Philadelphia 76ers made a statement as they went into Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday and defeated the Detroit Pistons by a score of 112-106. The Sixers led by as many as 18 and maintained their lead for a majority of the game as they put a stop to plenty of runs the Pistons tried to make in this one.
Jaylen Brown was terrific and led the Sixers with 30 points and seven rebounds, Joel Embiid had 26 points and 15 rebounds, and LeBron James added 13 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists. VJ Edgecombe had 11 points and six rebounds and Tyrese Maxey had 19 and seven assists.
Here are the three biggest takeaways following the win in Detroit:
Brown seals the game
As fantastic as Brown was on the offensive end, it was the defensive end in which he sealed
the game. The Pistons had all the momentum as they had pulled to within 106-102. After Embiid missed a top-of-the-key triple, Ausar Thompson rebounded the miss and pushed it up to star guard Cade Cunningham. Detroit's leader had his eye on a wing 3-pointer to attempt to pull the Pistons to within one with still plenty of time to go, but Brown made a phenomenal defensive play to reject his 3-point attempt and allow the Sixers to seal the win. The block was deflating one for Detroit and it was a defensive play that shocked the Little Caesars Arena crowd.
"Yeah, it was big," coach Nick Nurse said of the block. "I think Jaylen, obviously, had a good game, made another play. We were just kind of trying to trying to finish the game, and we needed to keep making a few more plays down the down the stretch there. That was certainly a huge one."
Maxey shakes free late
The Pistons have an elite defensive stopper in the form of Thompson and he did a terrific job on Maxey all night long. He forced him into some tough looks, held him in check for a majority of the night, but the 2-time All-Star on his 26th birthday finally broke free in the fourth quarter as he scored 11 of his 19 in the final frame to get the job done. He also only had one turnover on the night and had seven assists despite shooting just 5-for-16 on the night. Before finally getting into an offensive rhythm, Maxey was able to do a number of other things to help Philadelphia finish the job, especially on the defensive end.
"I liked the way he played," Nurse added. "He had a seven assist, one turnover game. They're, obviously, scheming for him, and I thought he played pretty comfortable, to be honest, and I like that more than anything."
Scoring depth
This was an example of Philadelphia's star power. The Pistons deserve credit for being able to take Maxey out of the game a bit, but the Sixers still built a double-digit lead because of all of the other options they can turn to on that end of the floor. Brown, James, Embiid, Edgecombe, you name it. This win was an example of Philadelphia not needing to lean on one star at any moment. It's all about depth in the NBA and the Sixers have it. There were so many scoring options on the night and the Sixers were able to break through against an elite Detroit defense.
"It's played out this way a little bit, where, you know, I know Tyrese has closed some games, and you know, but JB's taken us home in a couple too, right?" Nurse explained. "I think it's going to matter on kind of the night matchups, what's going on. I don't think it's going to be the same recipe every night, which I think is huge. I think that's alluding to your question. That yeah, it can go other places and just needs to go to the right place on any given night."
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: 3 biggest takeaways for Sixers following big road win over Pistons
