PHILADELPHIA – If there are two constants as it relates to the 2025-26 Sixers, they are as follows: they will be undermanned, and they will never truly go away until the clock hits three zeroes.
But even against a Heat team that was not at full strength, the Sixers could not quite withstand the losses of Joel Embiid, VJ Edgecombe, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Adem Bona on Sunday afternoon, chipping away at Miami's lead on several occasions but trailing for much of the game and ultimately falling 127-117 to drop to 9-7 on the season.
This game was not without positives: with Tyrese Maxey not quite at his best and Paul George struggling from the field, Jared McCain found himself for the first time in nearly a year, Trendon Watford broke out of a slump and Andre Drummond surpassed the 20-rebound mark with ease. But the Sixers lost a winnable game against a team that they hope to battle for playoff seeding with later in the year.
A heavy focus on McCain's strong showing – perhaps a building block for the young guard as he tries to get back to peak form – amid a game that was otherwise forgettable:
Jared McCain's stock is rising
With Edgecombe sidelined with an injury on Sunday, Nurse was forced to rely on McCain in a far more significant fashion than he has so far in 2025-26. McCain has made some recent progress, including being cleared to play in back-to-backs.
McCain's minutes have been a bit better of late, and as the fourth member of a crowded guard rotation centered around Maxey with Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes also playing featured roles, Nurse has tried to simplify McCain's role. "Play hard, shoot the ball" is what Nurse said on Saturday, but being elevated from the fourth guard spot to the third guard spot with Edgecombe out means more responsibilities for McCain. The Sixers needed him to create advantages off the ball on Sunday, either generating shots for himself or others on a consistent basis.
It required a level of burst and balance McCain had yet shown since returning from the torn left meniscus he suffered nearly a year ago. But right on time, McCain submitted his most encouraging performance of the season. While the results were fine all the way through – McCain scored at the rim, in the mid-range and beyond the arc – it was his overall movement which inspired the most confidence moving forward. McCain is not a particularly explosive athlete to begin with, and his infamous struggles playing with a bulky knee brace being behind him is good news for a Sixers team that suddenly needed the 21-year-old to look like his old self.
McCain's movement is not necessarily all the way there just yet, and there were times on Sunday when that fact was evident. But this game was the first time since December that McCain has generally looked like himself. He relied on bumps and spins in the middle of the floor, was eager to relocate off the ball and required tight defense because of the threat of his three-point shooting. With Grimes dealing with foul trouble for the entire second half, the Sixers ended up needing every bit of juice McCain could offer them.
Odds and ends
Some additional notes:
• Sunday's game was the first absence of Edgecombe's NBA career after he played in the first 15 games of his rookie campaign, averaging 37.3 minutes per game (only Maxey entered Sunday's play averaging more minutes among all NBA players). Nurse said before the game that Edgecombe reported his left calf tightness after Friday's win over the Milwaukee Bucks and received imaging, all of which came back clean. He was held out as a precautionary measure.
• The Sixers came on strong at the end of the first half to claw back into this game, and after he labored through much of the half it was Maxey whose shot-making lit the spark. Maxey was forced to throw up a desperation 40-footer to beat the shot clock and drilled it, and perhaps that was all he needed. Maxey drilled a corner triple immediately afterwards:
The ultimate sign of a brilliant player: a deceptively good performance. It felt like Maxey was struggling mightily for much of the first half on Sunday, yet when the teams headed to their locker rooms he had 17 points and four assists. Maxey's motor never stops.
• Speaking of surprising stat lines: Drummond has had a terrific resurgence early on this season, but slumped a bit over the last few games. He did not feel all that impactful on Sunday – Miami bigs Bam Adebayo and Kel'el Ware make for an imposing duo – but Drummond still dominated the glass, recording 14 rebounds in the first half alone. Drummond is a limited player, but has done more than enough to prove he has legitimate utility for the Sixers.
Up next: The Sixers will return to action on Tuesday night, hosting the Orlando Magic in NBA Cup Group Play action.
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