How One Pass Might Pay Big Dividends for Jared McCain, Sixers

Jared McCain doesn't try to compare himself to teammates like VJ Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes.

Comparison is the thief of joy. But he, and every other man who dons a Sixers uniform, is on his own journey.

Still, it's only natural to think about the guys at your position. There are jobs to win and only so many are up for grabs.

"It's always in the back of your mind. It's been like this since college, since high school," McCain told reporters after the Sixers' comfortable victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday.

McCain's spirit remains strong, even when his body and confidence waver.

"I knew my time was going to come and I know it's going to continue to come. There are going to be ups and downs, but you stay focused on yourself," McCain explained.

It comes off as selfish. It's not meant to be.

It's an awareness that the moment, the goal supersede the individual.

"You can't have too big of an ego in this," McCain said.

That mentality, that maturity has a way of being paid forward.

He doesn't let his own troubles get in the way of his teammates' fortunes.

So by the time McCain turned his head to run back on defense after connecting on his third three of the fourth quarter, Edgecombe was already bellowing in his face.

Joel Embiid was smiling, waving three fingers to celebrate McCain's made three.

It was the second-year guard's third in a four-minute span to open the game's final quarter. He hit his fourth of the quarter 20 seconds later.

The Sixers built an 11-point advantage heading into the game's final 12 minutes. McCain and Paul George, who was surfing a three-point wave of his own, put the game to bed for Philadelphia.

"Oh yeah, it was huge. It was huge. It felt more like him. It felt more like his rhythm. His pace. His timing. I thought all the shots he took came in the flow of the offense and it just didn't look like he was rushed at all. He was just in his comfort zone. That's what you love to see," George told reporters after the game.

McCain hadn't scored more than 10 points in a game since the Sixers' blowout loss at the Oklahoma City Thunder on December 28. He scored 33 points across a back-to-back on Monday and Tuesday.

Before a hot-shooting fourth quarter in Monday's blowout loss to the Charlotte Hornets, there were multiple instances of teammates overlooking McCain. An honest sign that their trust in him had corroded.

That would grate on anyone's psyche. It would shake anyone's nerves.

And then Joel Embiid passed the ball back to McCain with a little more than four minutes to play in the first quarter against Milwaukee.

The Bucks showed single coverage on Embiid, trusting Myles Turner to handle him in space.

McCain saw it and fed his star teammate the ball. Embiid pushed the pace down the middle of the floor, heading straight for Turner.

Gary Trent Jr., McCain's primary defender on the possession, shaded toward Embiid to help. A disrespect to McCain's shooting prowess.

Embiid rifled the ball back to McCain on the left wing, Trent having completely committed to a double-team of the big man. McCain dialed up a 28-footer, his first shot of the night.

He picked back up where he left off on Monday.

It was just one pass. The right decision with a reputed shooter one pass away.

But it was an investment from Embiid on which McCain was determined to pay dividends.

"He's talked to me a lot. He's told me, 'Just stay ready and I'm going to find you'. He knows people are going to gravitate toward him. So I was just ready and he's told me many times before that the opportunity is going to come," McCain said of Embiid's expression of confidence in him.

"Just to be ready whenever he has the ball, whenever any of my teammates have the ball. I know their eyes are up and that's what I do, catch and shoot shots."

Perhaps the return on Embiid's faith will last just one night. Maybe it was only good for one win.

Or maybe it's the start of something the Sixers have lost over the last several weeks — competent guard play behind Tyrese Maxey.

Grimes has disappointed for a large portion of this season, yet he's held down a spot in the rotation while McCain has lived on the fringes of Nick Nurse's rotation.

The Sixers are 25-21, sitting above the Play-In tournament by just one game. They have a point differential of +0.7 this season. Everything matters.

It's difficult to justify benching a player the game after he connects on five threes, doubling the next highest scoring output off your team's bench. McCain will likely get a chance to stack games.

It's up to him to determine whether Tuesday mattered. If it did, it will go a long way toward the Sixers stacking wins.