SI

Tyrese Maxey, 76ers Beat Warriors With Frenetic Sequence in Closing Seconds

The 76ers earned one of the most dramatic wins of the season.

Eva Geitheim

76ers guard Tyrese Maxey (0) blocks the final shot of the game by Golden State Warriors guard De'Anthony Melton.
76ers guard Tyrese Maxey (0) blocks the final shot of the game by Golden State Warriors guard De'Anthony Melton. / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
In this story:

The 76ers pulled off one of the most exciting finishes of the year in a win over the Warriors on Thursday, fighting off a late Golden State comeback to earn their 12th win of the season.

Philadelphia controlled the game for much of the evening. They quickly took a 30-10 lead in the first quarter, and extended that to 56-34 by halftime. The Warriors, without Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler, struggled greatly to score early in the game. They also saw Draymond Green exit in the middle of the game, only hurting their cause.

Even so, Golden State began mounting their comeback in the third quarter, outscoring the 76ers 32-24 to get within 14 points of Philadelphia by the start of the fourth.

The Warriors finally got their first lead of the game in the final three minutes with Gui Santos hitting a layup to go up 93-92. Golden State went up as much as 98-94 in the final minutes, but the 76ers scored three more points to make it 98-97 with 1:10 remaining.

Unfortunately, the Warriors held on to that one-point lead for only one minute and nine seconds. The 76ers took a timeout with 8.2 seconds remaining, and Tyrese Maxey attempted a game-winning shot with 2.5 seconds left. Warriors’ De’Anthony Melton blocked the shot, but star 76ers rookie V.J. Edgecombe got the rebound and scored the game-winning basket with 0.9 seconds left.

The Warriors quickly got threw the ball down the court to Melton so he could try and re-take the lead, but Maxey came back to block it, just seconds after Melton blocked his game-winning attempt.

With last-second heroics from stars Maxey and Edgecombe, the 76ers avoided a disastrous meltdown and defeated the Warriors. Meanwhile, Golden State fell to 11-12 as they were just unable to withstand all their injuries.

More NBA on Sports Illustrated

FREE NEWSLETTER. SI BTN Newsletter. Start off your day with SI:CYMI. dark

feed

Published
Eva Geitheim
EVA GEITHEIM

Eva Geitheim is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in December 2024, she wrote for Newsweek, Gymnastics Now and Dodgers Nation. A Bay Area native, she has a bachelor's in communications from UCLA. When not writing, she can be found baking or re-watching Gilmore Girls.

Home/NBA