Six Thoughts: Maxey Dethrones Brunson as Sixers Finish Impressive Trip with Win

Tyrese Maxey scored 36 points, outdueling Jalen Brunson again. Joel Embiid bullied Mitchell Robinson and Karl-Anthony Towns all night. VJ Edgecombe dropped jaws yet again, and the Sixers capped an impressive road trip with a victory in Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

Here are six thoughts on the game.

Edgecombe changes the game early

The complexion of this game flipped when the second quarter began. Nurse trusted Edgecombe and Paul George to shoulder the offense for at least a few minutes so that Maxey and Embiid could get some rest. Edgecombe was first to answer the call. He stepped into three triples as the focal point of the offense, as the spotlight at Madison Square Garden.

The diversity of his three-point shot is one of the many ways Edgecombe's game has surprised as a rookie. He's had moments of looking short on the second night of a back-to-back or in his first game or two back from a brief absence. But he's largely been versatile in his three-point range, showing the distance to step away from a set shot in the corners and spreading out to the deeper spots along the arc. And even then, he's not selective about puling the trigger when his feet aren't set. Edgecombe is stepping into these threes from the deepest part of the perimeter, and occasionally taking a step or two back or rising into the shot off the dribble.

It might not seem like much. Three points is three points. But that willingness and aptitude in testing the boundaries of his skills makes it easier to trust him as a ball-handler. The Sixers deployed him on the ball and off the ball during this run, throwing Jared McCain in the backcourt with the rookie.

By the time Edgecombe knocked down his third three, he was feeling dangerous. His combination of athletic pop and body control in the air allows Edgecombe to glide to the rim through traffic for scores. Now that he's starting to actually finish at the rim more consistently, Edgecombe is starting games well because he's taking advantage of the defensive focus being on Maxey and Embiid. Whether he's slashing off an unbalanced closeout or cutting into gaps when help defenders fall asleep, he's getting himself going at the rim. Star-level players only need to see a free throw or layup fall to get the blood flowing, and Edgecombe carried that unit with his play on offense.

Embiid plays villain in Gotham

The double-big tandem of Isaiah Hartenstein and Robinson once gave New York hope that they'd finally chased the Joker away. When the Knicks swapped out Hartenstein for Towns and Embiid's knees worsened, New York thought all was safe. Basketball justice had prevailed.

Perhaps that will remain true and they'll still outlast the Sixers in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, but Embiid wreaked havoc on the Knicks in his first game back at Madison Square Garden sicne the 2024 playoffs. The Knicks started Towns and Robinson, and Embiid promptly bullied Robinson to the bench for most of the game.

It was a methodical, outside-inside attack from Embiid in this game. He let fly on a single three, though. Embiid's dominance and, by extension, shot selection came within the elbows and nail. He played on Robinson's fears, hitting him with fakes and punishing his extended arms for foul trouble all game long. With the foul trouble sending Robinson to the bench, the Sixers were able to stabilize the glass in ways they usually are not able to with the Knicks big man on the court.

Robinson had five rebounds in 18 minutes of action. The Sixers outrebounded the Knicks by three. That's a monumental win on the margins.

Coming into this season, I thought Embiid might find this level of play by the end of the season. He's stringing together All-Star-level games without minute restrictions by early January. There is still a ton of season to go, and he may still get better. That also has to mean that there's ample time left for it all to come crashing down with one bad step. But he's taking new risks every game now. Not bad risks, like jumping recklessly for plays that he can't make. It's things like attempting foot races to the rim with his counterparts for layups. It's fighting through physicality like a football player in the sled drill, pushing through the resistance with balance and getting to the basket. It's pivoting away from a primary assignment to stand up a driver at the rim and earn a stop.

Embiid did a ton of damage in this game at the rim, yet his only dunk — his first of the season — came in the final seconds of the fourth quarter. He's rediscovering his dominance just by leveraging his size and force, and that wasn't something he did really at all last season or in the first half of this season.

One of the best things he did in this game was just react well to zone defense. He flashed to the soft spots, popping open around the foul line to get the ball inside. And when he drew the attention, he sprayed the ball to open teammates wherever they were. He didn't panic or force. Embiid just took what the scheme showed and trusted his teammates. He doesn't dazzle you with no-look passes that draw a week's worth of admiration from national pundits. But he's using the attention he warrants to punish defenses for gapping to stop him.

Everyone involved has to be thrilled by where he is.

Maxey dethrones Brunson for the second time

There are a couple of different narratives that the New York faithful could pull out to defend their guy, and there'd probably be some truth in bringing up the rest disadvantage the Knicks have had in both matchups against the Sixers. But Maxey would've had an excuse the first time these two teams played, and he didn't need it to thoroughly outplay Brunson the first time.

Maxey's first half was pretty standard. His second half was outrageous. He punished Deuce McBride for going under a screen from Embiid, dropping a three to push the Sixers' advantage to 17 points. The Knicks tried some zone to slow Philadelphia's offense down. No bother. Embiid set another pick at the top of the zone, forcing Brunson to chase through with McBride serving as the second defender at the top of the zone. Maxey laced a pull-up three.

And then once the Knicks went back to man, Maxey waited for Embiid to come pick for him in transition, lining up another pull-up three to beat New York's drop coverage. He capped a 20-point second half with a step-back three over McBride on the right wing to give Philadelphia a 15-point advantage with four minutes to play.

There's deeper analysis to be done here, but the box score data says Maxey has comfortably passed Brunson in the hierarchy of guards in the east. Cade Cunningham has a legitimate case; he's beating Maxey in on/off net rating. But by all-in-one metrics and box score averages, Maxey is the second best player in the east and probably the best guard in the conference.

Paul George impacts the game from the passenger seat

George deserves some credit for not sulking over being reduced in the pecking order with Edgecombe's quick breakout. He's not getting a ton of shots, and he's still playing some all-world defense.

He's not shooting the gap to blow up passes the way Maxey is, but he's hopping in front of the ball when teams aren't being careful and punishing them for sloppiness. Drive near him at your own risk, he's a constant threat to reach in and slap the ball out of your grip. He had two extremely impressive defense plays in this game. The first was running down the floor as the trailer and blocking a Towns three from behind early in the game. The second was sticking with Jordan Clarkson on a hit-ahead pass and pinning his layup off the backboard despite trailing for the entire transition possession.

He didn't rule the game from an offensive standpoint by any means, but he made some incredibly timely shots. When the Sixers were looking for someone to help them avoid their usual third-quarter sinking, George was there to stick a pair of corner threes off pin-down screens. And when the Knicks made a small run to put some pressure on Philadelphia late in the fourth quarter, George crossed over to his left and pulled up for a corner three to push the lead back to double digits.

X-ing out

The Knicks shot a stellar 16-for-40 from three in this game and still left some meat on the bones with a handful of misses on open looks. But the Sixers played some of the most connected defense of their season in this game. They helped each other, rotating to stop the ball and trusting their teammate to pick up their man. When they could safely pass on that offensive player to someone else or had thwarted the trouble, they recovered back to the man their teammate had left open. Philadelphia was connected off the ball, too, switching and picking up cutters on the move so that there was no angle leading to the rim. An outstanding team effort on that end of the floor.

What can't Edgecombe do?

Of all the plays Edgecombe has made as a rookie, I hope I remember this sequence from the second half. Edgecombe rotated to the corner, blocking Mikal Bridges' three — one of the highest releases in the game — nearly out of bounds and then ran the floor for a transition dunk.

Just an outrageous rookie, and he's changing the upside of both this season and the future of Sixers basketball.