Joel Embiid returns, Sixers steamroll Pacers 135-114
Joel Embiid returned from his latest injury absence Tuesday night and the Sixers made it look easy, beating the Indiana Pacers 135-114 to close out a 2-1 road trip. Tyrese Maxey led everyone with 32, Embiid added 27, and VJ Edgecombe chipped in a breezy 23 off the wing. Good night all around.
Joel Embiid: 27 PTS, 6 REB, 5 AST
The honest expectations for Joel Embiid’s first game back were pretty tempered. Multi-week layoffs and slow returns are basically a tradition at this point, and Indiana was as good a spot as any to ease back in.
He looked sharp, particularly on defense, where he found that difficult balance of getting out to bother Indiana’s stretch bigs without abandoning his responsibilities at the rim. Offensively he was right back to being the player nobody has a real answer for inside the arc. Too big to contest, too quick for slow-footed bigs to stay in front of. Micah Potter and Jay Huff tried their best. It did not go well for them.
What stood out beyond the scoring was how involved Joel Embiid was as a passer. He found Trendon Watford on a back cut, hit Quentin Grimes on a long outlet, fed Edgecombe for a wing three after bringing the ball up himself, and was terrific working in tandem with Maxey out of pick-and-roll.
The fake dribble handoff into a downhill Maxey feed has quietly become one of the better two-man actions this team runs, and it was clicking all night Tuesday.
As for Maxey, he had a rough opening quarter. Two ugly turnovers, poor shooting, the kind of start that makes you nervous. And then he immediately reminded everyone why those first twelve minutes don’t matter.
He opened the second quarter with a pull-up three, a midrange fadeaway, and a reverse layup that had the Indiana crowd making involuntary noises, and he never really let up from there. Seven free throw attempts in the first half alone. Another all-around performance that’s going to make his first All-NBA selection very hard to argue against.
The storyline of the night that deserves more attention is VJ Edgecombe, who put up 23 in what might have been the most effortless game of his rookie year.
He wasn’t forcing anything. He wasn’t hunting poster dunks he had no business hunting. He was reading the game, finding early offense opportunities, hitting pull-up jumpers in the midrange over defenders who were just close enough to think they had him and just far enough to find out they didn’t.
He also held his own in a size mismatch against Jarace Walker on a post possession, which is the kind of detail that doesn’t show up in the box score but matters a lot. The rebounding continues to be a genuine weapon. The pace continues to make everyone around him better.
The concern heading into the stretch run was whether Edgecombe would fade into the background with Embiid back in the lineup. Tuesday was a pretty good answer to that concern.
Off the bench, Quentin Grimes and Adem Bona were both legitimately good. Bona in particular has been showing real growth, making smarter reads out of the middle of the floor and navigating tight spaces with noticeably better footwork than earlier in the season.
The second unit still has limitations but there were encouraging signs in this one.
The defensive lapses were annoying, but against Indiana in a blowout, you’re mostly just watching for signs about whether this group can get where it needs to go over the final stretch. Tuesday gave you a lot of those. Joel Embiid back in the flow, Maxey doing Maxey things, Edgecombe refusing to disappear. That’s a good sign.
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