How the Sixers Survived a Crazy Stat to Slay Giants

PHILADELPHIA — Justin Edwards did not care if it was going to be close or if he was going to put himself in harm's way.

He was aware of the momentum the Portland Trail Blazers had built and sensed the game tightening.

He hadn't let Portland's imposing bigs get in his head all night. Why start now?

Instead of booking it back in transition to defend, Edwards felt Toumani Camara telegraphing a pass to Blazers star Deni Avdija. He waited for Camara to commit to the decision and then lunged forward to reach for the ball.

Pick six.

One final boss stood between him and a highlight play: Robert Williams III.

"I was going to go regardless if he was there or not," Edwards told reporters after the game.

Williams lost the foot race. Edwards flushed a one-handed dunk. It put the Sixers up six points with one minute and 20 seconds to play in the fourth quarter.

"I feel like it's an underrated steal. It was, what, 99 to 103? I feel like that was a big steal. I think they had a little momentum going," Edwards said.

Correct on all counts.

Edwards wasn't the only youngster to supply critical scores down the stretch.

VJ Edgecombe attacked deep into the paint for a pull-up jumper that gave Philadelphia a six-point lead with just under two minutes to play. Edgecombe later stuck a mid-range dagger with Camara draped all over him to restore the Sixers' six-point lead with 44 seconds to play.

"That shot was a tough one and it was obviously a huge one. But he is able to get to places. He's got the combination of he gets some space, he gets up in the air and gets back so he can get them off," Nick Nurse said after the victory.

That shot was microcosmic of an incredible storyline that played out as the game went on.

Edgecombe is not new to lead ballhandling duties, but he has not shouldered that responsibility against defensive stalwarts like Jrue Holiday and Camara. He has not experienced that with human mountains Donovan Clingan and Williams providing insurance on the back line. Even if Edgecombe, with his inexperienced handle, is able to get around the ball pressure, that combination of bigs should jam up a rookie's decision-making.

His youth showed early.

VJ Edgecombe shot 8-for-18 in the Sixers' victory over the Blazers last night.

His approach was very ambitious early on, but he adjusted in real time as the game progressed and chose some wise shots. pic.twitter.com/d61bOFUCCP
— Sixers On SI (@SixersOnSI) March 16, 2026

Portland iced him on pick-and-rolls to the left side of the floor. He settled early on, declining to get downhill or build momentum by dribbling toward the big. Edgecombe then toggled toward some audacious decisions, like dancing with the ball in an effort to break down his defender or testing the boundaries of his athleticism on long gathers with the ball.

And then he found some middle ground. Edgecombe embraced the floater and the mid-range shot, taking Portland's drop coverage and using it to his advantage.

There were some rushed shots. But the decisions improved. By the second half, Edgecombe was snaking picks and getting to the elbow or deeper for pull-ups.

"He's been doing stuff like that all year. I mean, I know that was probably one of his better shots but that kid can take it to a spot and vault up and get a shot off, which is invaluable in this league. Especially in tough games," Nurse said.

Just as it did in Saturday's victory over the Brooklyn Nets, the mid-range helped the Sixers stave off the Blazers.

The Blazers are not world-beaters by any stretch. But they are a competent team in an always-strong Western Conference. They flood the interior with size. They have perimeter defenders who can give the Sixers fits.

It's a tough matchup with the Sixers under-manned as is. It's an even tougher one on the second night of a back-to-back when you barely held off a terrible Nets team some 24 hours earlier.

The Sixers were outscored by 30 points from the 3-point arc. The Blazers shot six more free throws than the Sixers did.

Philadelphia became the 11th and 12th team to win games this season despite losing the 3-point battle by at least 10 makes, per Stathead.

The Sixers are the first team in NBA history to win consecutive games with such a disparity in both games, per Tom Haberstroh and Stathead.

There's only one way to pull that off: Win the battle of points in the paint.

The Sixers outscored the Blazers by 24 in the paint, 60-36.

Philadelphia shot 22-for-43 on all 2s outside of the rim, according to Cleaning The Glass (CTG). Portland shot 3-for-13.

The Sixers shot 16-for-31 on 2s between four feet and the foul line, per CTG. The Blazers were 2-for-10 on those shots.

"They're playing super pressure on the perimeter with the big back at the rim or in the paint. You probably noticed that we were setting a lot of high screens. They're really good at defeating them," Nurse said.

"We had to keep holding those and that gave VJ, [Quentin Grimes], Cam [Payne] room to kind of slither around in there and it ended up being the shots that present themselves."

"Honestly, just trying to play smart, honestly. If that's getting to the mid-range area or the little floater area," Justin Edwards added. "Just our bigs doing a good job of occupying [Clingan] so we could get all the way to the rim. So kudos to [Andre Drummond] and [Adem Bona] on doing a good job on that."

Edwards credited Grimes with being the brave soul to challenge the paint first. His aggression to get to spots is contagious, Edwards believes. "Seeing how easy it is or how fluidly he's getting to his spots. So it makes other guys like, 'Hey, maybe I can get to my spot, too," he said.

Here are all of Quentin Grimes' within-the-arc shots.

He scorched the Trail Blazers' defense for a season-high 31 points on 11-22 shooting from the field. pic.twitter.com/0DCfbtiGpx
— Sixers On SI (@SixersOnSI) March 16, 2026

"Usually good things happen when you hit the paint. They were in drop coverage for the majority of the game. I hit the paint, VJ hit the paint. Whether that's getting all the way to the basket or kicking it out to make it spray," Grimes told reporters after the victory.

"Justin was getting to the middie, I was getting to the middie a little bit, VJ as well. Just try to use my athleticism."

Edwards has grown quite a bit, himself, over the last two games.

Scaled to a solidified rotation spot when Kelly Oubre Jr. went down with an elbow injury, Edwards' 21 points were second on the Sixers in scoring on Sunday after his 19 points also placed second on Saturday.

Edwards claims his confidence is growing. There are heights that it has not yet reached. But it's improving. His staying power will be measured by how well he holds up on defense.

"I just like that he seems to be a little bit more solid defensively now. I think that's him finding the rhythm of the game being out there longer stretches. Hopefully he can do that in short stints," Nurse said.

Nurse's goal for Edwards, first and foremost, is to blossom into a defender any team can count on.

He believes that will come with time.

"I think he works at it. I just still think he's a little young to be great at it yet because you got to go through guarding a whole bunch of guys and a whole bunch of different scenarios and stuff," Nurse said.

Any good head coach will shrug off misses, especially if there's an ancillary skill to support the player being on the court otherwise. Edwards has looked confident off the dribble in back-to-back games, using his handle to get to spots in the mid-range or attacking closeouts.

It's added a layer of offense the Sixers desperately need right now.

Justin Edwards shot 9-for-14 from the field in last night's win over the Portland Trail Blazers.

2 of the attempts came directly off his own steals. Several off the dribble. His confidence is growing. pic.twitter.com/qteB5Dncjl
— Sixers On SI (@SixersOnSI) March 16, 2026

"And then I want him to be a super-high-percentage 3-point shooter. Again, you guys hear me talk about his mechanics are fantastic. His work ethic is fantastic. It should just be a matter of time before he's that guy," Nurse said.

Perhaps there is a silver lining in the Sixers' hitting turbulence with health in the weeks since the All-Star break. There have been ugly losses. There have been some great wins, Sunday against Portland chief among them.

But as Nurse has been forced to stretch his players' roles, he's found some skills that will be useful when his biggest weapons return.

The Sixers' upside depends on how well he can scale those pieces back without killing their rhythm when Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George return.