Instant observations: Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid carry the load from start to finish as Sixers escape vs. Kings

PHILADELPHIA – All day Thursday, the Sixers’ messaging was clear: they could not take a perceived easy matchup against the Sacramento Kings lightly. The Kings, who entered Philadelphia on a six-game losing streak with a record of 12-36 – playing without three key rotation pieces – had the look of a team that had taken these Sixers by surprise on a few different occasions this season.

“You’ve got to really play them for the 48 minutes,” Nurse said, “if you want to get the win.”

Nurse’s team did just that, and as he predicted before the game, it was not an easy one to win. The Sixers went dormant for a significant chunk of the second half, which put them in a late hole. But they notched their second straight home win, beating the Kings 113-111 on a game-winning bucket Tyrese Maxey scored courtesy of a Joel Embiid assist:

It was a fitting ending, as Maxey and Embiid carried the Sixers all night long, combining to score 42 of the team’s 60 points prior to intermission and 77 of their 113 points overall. They submitted a clutch combined effort in the fourth quarter, capped off by Maxey’s game-winner:

It took the Sixers longer than they wanted to secure this victory – in part because Maxey and Embiid received such little support in terms of scoring – but the Sixers erased a late deficit and escaped when Maxey and Embiid took turns making plays, with the two stars dragging their team across the finish line.

The Sixers are back to five games over .500. Takeaways from another victory:

Tyrese Maxey looks more like his early-season self

When Maxey was performing like a full-blown superstar during the first two-plus months of the season, everything felt incredibly easy for him. He had more speed and skill than any player assigned to keep him in check. No defensive coverage worked against Maxey because his pull-up shooting was just as lethal as his dribble-drive game.

It had been quite a while since Maxey made a defense look truly hopeless. Maxey is too good of a player to be mired in a true slump, but he would be the first person to say he has not been good enough lately. Some of it is understandable – Maxey has logged a workload that is historically heavy, and teams have started loading up against him more – but Maxey has also missed some shots that usually fell for him early in the season. His decision-making as a playmaker has felt a bit worse, too.

Maxey was not playing poorly, but his efficiency was a far cry from the stellar place it was earlier in the season. On Thursday, Maxey finally regained the free-flowing dominance that was so typical for him. He scored eight points in a three-possession span in the first quarter, dicing up Sacramento in the mid-range before connecting on a gorgeous step-back triple and then pulling up from long range in transition:

It set a terrific tone for the game for Maxey and his team; the Sixers had a very cohesive offensive effort in this one. Embiid was also terrific, but Maxey led the way with heaters in each of the first two quarters. He entered halftime with 23 points on only 10 shot attempts:

Early in the second half, the Sixers’ offense revolved around Embiid more than Maxey, though the two connected on this excellent give-and-go:

With the Sixers surprisingly trailing entering the final frame – have you heard they struggle in third quarters? – it was Maxey whose return to the game enabled the Sixers to find the offensive juice they were suddenly incapable of finding. Not that anyone was truly worried about Maxey, but it was encouraging to see him have one of those games that is even a strong performance by his lofty standards.

More marveling at Joel Embiid’s progress

Embiid sleepwalked to 10 points in the first quarter of this game without doing anything particularly impressive. Somehow, that felt like a stronger sign of his progress than many of the monstrous scoring surges he has managed over the last month or so.

Certainly, Embiid’s historic scoring prowess has best been exemplified over the years by his 40-plus point barrage – or in one extreme example, his 70-point game from two years ago last week. But when reflecting on the times when Embiid was so brilliant that it became boring, perhaps “boring” was the key word. It would feel as if Embiid did not even exert that much energy or effort, and that all he needed to do was flow into mid-range jumpers and bait fouls to carry an offense on his own.

Gone are the days of Embiid being the lone source of consistent offense for the Sixers, but there is tremendous stability that comes with having a player whose bread and butter scoring methods are tried and true to the extent Embiid’s are. He will never not have touch on those jumpers, the same way he will never not have tremendous spatial awareness around the rim to convert finishes like this one:

After months of uncharacteristic struggles as a three-point shooter, Embiid’s long-range touch is finally coming around, too; that would complete the picture of a three-level scorer who is virtually unstoppable. That is what he was on Thursday against a Kings center rotation that is not very imposing defensively.

Beyond discussion of how Embiid’s rapid progression over the last month changes the Sixers’ short- and long-term outlooks, it is worth recalling just how difficult it was to conceive of something like this even a month ago, let alone when he scored only two points in 20 minutes as the Sixers stormed to victory without him on opening night in Boston.

Odds and ends

Some additional notes:

• Embiid’s opening stints have gotten longer and longer of late; at this point, Nurse is more likely to let Embiid play entire first quarters than he is to pull him early. Embiid enjoys any chance to create and thrive off his own rhythm, and lamented the short stints he had to play earlier in the season when he was on a minutes restriction. Nurse has often said he feels compelled to let it ride with Embiid when the former NBA MVP is in a groove, even if it detracts from his minutes later in the game. The most important benefit of Embiid playing an entire first quarter, like he did on Thursday before the Sixers’ final defensive possession: he has a chance to not just get his team in the bonus, but capitalize on it to generate free throws.

• With Quentin Grimes once again out due to a right ankle sprain, Jared McCain entered a game with heightened opportunity and importance. But after a terrific breakthrough performance on Tuesday, McCain was mostly quiet in this one, with Embiid and Maxey’s excellence rightfully dominating the team’s offensive flow. McCain was not bad, but the game not coming to him much prevented him from building on the momentum he had created for himself.

• Over the last month, neither Adem Bona or Andre Drummond had held onto this team’s backup center spot for as long as Bona had entering this game. But his issues with fouling returned and the Sixers began losing on the boards, so Nurse toggled from the youngster to the veteran to begin the fourth quarter.

Up next: The Sixers will play host to the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday in what will also serve as the reunion for the 2001 Sixers.

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