Six Thoughts: Big Night From Starters Helps Sixers Get Back on Track Against Wizards

Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George took the spotlight to get the Sixers back on track with a victory over the short-handed Washington Wizards after Monday's debacle against the Denver Nuggets left a sour taste in everyone's mouths.

Here are six thoughts on the game.

Deja vu

We'll get to Embiid's dominance later, but his and Maxey's best efforts to open the game were quickly erased by the lineups that Nick Nurse deployed as the two stars rested. The wheels started to wobble a bit when Embiid went to the bench in the first quarter, but the Sixers still held a seven-point advantage while Maxey finished the quarter. The wheels fell off entirely when both departed the game, leaving George and VJ Edgecombe to run the show.

There's a blend of a concerted effort to get Jared McCain going, but the other part of that blend is the ball flies his way and no one else is doing anything. So it's on him to try to make something happen. Nonetheless, he had no rhythm and got smothered when the ball was in his hands. Quentin Grimes also came up empty, clanking a couple of jumpers in that stretch.

George and Edgecombe eventually realized that the democratic offense had cost Philadelphia the lead, and they tried to take matters into their own hands. The problem was, Edgecombe didn't have the power to commandeer the offense in those lineups either.

The Sixers can thank George for stopping the meltdown to open the second quarter, Nurse calling a timeout after an 11-0 Wizards run gave Washington a four-point lead early in the second. George promptly laced an open catch-and-shoot three at the top of the key to break the seal. Embiid and Maxey eventually returned, and that lineup eventually restored order.

But that's not the point. The depleted Wizards added Corey Kispert to their long list of missing players near game time with it appearing imminent that he and CJ McCollum will be traded to the Atlanta Hawks for Trae Young. The bench for the second worst team in the East outplayed the Sixers sans Embiid and Maxey. That can't happen. Shooting is inherently rooted in luck, but Grimes and McCain can't continue with the inconsistent play. This was a matchup to maintain the status quo of what the starters built, at a minimum. It's not excusable that the offense devolved to the point of needing the two most impactful players to bail them out.

The Sixers outscored the Wizards by 24 points in the first half with Embiid on the court. They led by just six at intermission. Sound familiar?

Down low Barlow

On a night when the bench provided almost literally zero juice through three quarters, it was really good to see a non-core member of the Sixers look at who was in front of him and just go to work. In what is usually a make-or-break period for Philadelphia, Barlow decided that he was simply going to use his physical advantages to create easy baskets.

When the ball swung his way, Barlow put it on the floor and attacked straight, burrowing his shoulder into his man to back him down. Barlow actively created his own shot value, inching his way down to the paint and turning catches on the perimeter into shots at the rim. He scored nine points in the third to help the Sixers expand their lead.

Second half Edgecombe strikes again

Once the rookie sensation stopped trying to dunk on everyone in a white jersey, he helped the Sixers put this game away while Maxey and Embiid sat on the bench. The most dangerous thing for the opposition is when he lines up a three in the final two minutes of the third quarter or at any point in the fourth quarter. That seems to get him going every time. He knocked one down on the wing late in the third quarter, and that precipitated a small punch from him to start to the fourth quarter. His poise as a ball-handler is the only reason he's getting his own section for this game.

Edgecombe knows what he wants as these games wind down, and that seems to breed trust from his teammates. He got to his spots as an initiator of the offense, George taking a back seat in what was an excellent offensive night for him, too. Edgecombe trusts that his off-the-dribble game is improving because he treats the mid-range pull-up at the elbows and along the baseline as a treasured tool in his repertoire.

The Sixers are scary as it is. Imagine when Edgecombe gets to the point where he's stringing out pick-and-roll coverages into pull-up jumpers over and over again. At the rate he's going, it might happen by next season.

Embiid gets revenge

If you want to measure how far Embiid has come since the start of the season, rewatch the first matchup between these two teams and compare it to this game. Embiid couldn't stick with Alex Sarr in space to save his life, and Marvin Bagley III posterized him.

Fast forward to early January, and he was putting Sarr in the basket over and over again en route to 28 points in 25 minutes of action. But his scoring was hardly the center of the story. Embiid's rim protection was excellent, consistently standing up Washington's longer bodies at the rim all night. He disrupted anyone who dared come close into short-arming or catapulting shots that were well off the mark. He finished off those stops with competitive play on the defensive glass.

Embiid had Bagley in a torture chamber in the first half. When he wasn't wiping Bagley away at the rim on defense, he was sizing Bagley up in space before hitting him with quick and aggressive jabs to shoo him away so he could trigger mid-range jumpers. Embiid's mid-range jumper is coming back steadily, and he got to a point in this game where he was knocking down one-legged faders over outstretched arms.

He's looking more and more like his prime self with each passing game.

Embiid ignites Maxey

When Embiid thought he'd be able to coast through this one en route to a blowout win, his first-quarter brand of offense was quite deferential. He and Maxey wanted Edgecombe bringing the ball up the floor so that he could set pin-downs for his established co-star to get going from three. And Maxey did just that, striking to the tune of four makes from beyond the arc in the first quarter.

But at a time when viewers like to provoke dialogue about Embiid and whether or not he's getting in Maxey's way, it was very clear that Maxey got going because of Embiid. His screen-setting was terrific, forging space for the guard to shoot basically uncovered in the first quarter.

A balanced night for the Big Three...which is honestly a Big Four

The contracts may resemble a "Big Three", but the construction of this team is really a "Big Four". Edgecombe is firmly in the middle of it at this point. And the quartet of Embiid, Maxey, Edgecombe and George had a massive night to lead the charge.

The reserves finally put some buckets on the board once the game got out of hand. But before that happened, those four starters combined for 86 of Philadelphia's first 100 points. It's not ideal for roster balance, but it is a good spread for four guys learning how to work together.