The Sixers got right with a wire-to-wire win over the visiting Wizards Wednesday.
Jan 8, 2026, 2:17 AM UTC
No awards will be handed out for this win, but this week has showed why you still have to go out and earn it.
The Sixers rebounded from the Nuggets loss with a 131-110 win over the Washington Wizards Wednesday night.
Joel Embiid led Philadelphia for the second night in a row, going for 28 on 10-of-14 shooting while getting the fourth quarter off, which also feels like the first time that’s happened since 2023.
Tyrese Maxey had 22 points and eight assists shooting 9-of-15 from the floor. Paul George had 23 going 7-of-11 from the field. It’s the first time all three have scored at least 20 in the same game as Sixers.
VJ Edgecombe once again shook off a poor start with a solid second half, finishing with 13 points, six rebounds, seven assists and five steals. Tre Johnson led the Wizards with 20.
[For the first time in two years, the Sixers had their entire roster available](https://x.com/SixersAdam/status/2009045015537045782?s=20). The Wizards, after playing the night before, were down CJ McCollum, Kyshawn George, Khris Middleton, Cam Whitmore and Corey Kispert, who was a late scratch with injury management … for no other reason than injury management. Stop asking about Trae Young.
Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.
* Thankfully for Philly, there was a much different energy to this one, opening the game on a 7-0 run to force a timeout less than two minutes into the game. Embiid looked to have a pep in his step, notching his second dunk of the year and aggressively attacking the paint when he saw a bit of space open up a few possessions later.
* The Sixers opened the game with Embiid roaming off his defender rather than guarding Alex Sarr straight up. Bilal Coulibaliy, Embiid’s actual assignment, ripped off a quick seven points, but the Sixers had limited Washington’s early production to little else than that.
* Kelly Oubre Jr. checked in for the first time in two months and got a healthy cheer from his home crowd. He came in around the four-and-a-half minute mark. Before the game Nick Nurse said that if he or Trendon Watford would play, it’d be in a pretty limited capacity.
* Washington only took six threes in the quarter, but converting on two late and getting fouled on another attempt pulled themselves out of an early double-digit hole. Not completely though, as a 16-point quarter from Maxey helped the Sixers get out to a seven-point lead.
* Oubre’s first shot certainly wasn’t a great one: he took a contested jumper fading away in the paint and it didn’t come close to falling. He got a corner three swung to him moments later but was short on that. Jared McCain got off to a poor start in another potential get-right game, and Nurse had another quick hook with him as a result, pulling him after he missed his first two shots after less than five minutes of play.
* To make matters worse, the Sixers opened the quarter with a lineup where Edgecombe was the only starter on the floor, and gave up an 11-0 run to start the quarter. It took a timeout before PG could hit a three to stop the bleeding. His jumper kept an ugly stretch from turning even worse, being the only Sixer to score for the first seven minutes of the second.
* Both ends of the floor improved as more starters, specifically Embiid, returned to the floor. It wasn’t the most balanced attack for the Sixers. Embiid, Maxey and George scored 54 of their 62 points in the half. That was enough to dig them out of the early quarter hole they dug themselves in, but the lack of production from anywhere else prevented them from turning the half into a laugher, and they had to settle for a six-point lead at half.
* Embiid picked up where he left off, continually bullying his way through Sarr for baskets right at the rim and started to guard Sarr on the other end as well. He looks like such a different player than when these two teams met in October in the best possible way.
* This was the second game in a row where it just felt like the Sixers couldn’t get as many stops as they should have. They weren’t getting shredded in pick-and-rolls, but can get reliant on the steals they cheat for if Edgecombe or George aren’t able to shut off their opponent’s water.
* Someone other than the Big 3 was able to contribute offensively, and that was Dominick Barlow doing Dominick Barlow things. He fought for an offensive rebound, was rewarded for hustling in transition with a layup, and hit a three when he was left alone in the quarter. Despite still only having two bench points after Quentin Grimes missed an up-and-under layup at the buzzer, the Sixers held a 12-point lead.
* A few rotation notes: Andre Drummond got the nod to backup Embiid in the second half after Adem Bona was a -18 in his eight first half minutes, and McCain did not see any action until garbage time. Leaving George out there scoreless for the first three minutes of the quarter.
* Edgecombe deserves the bulk of the credit for putting this game away, at least offensively. Once again, a poor shooting start did not deter him. He still looked for his pull-up jumper and buried them when he got the chance. He continues to scrap on the other end as well — he picked up his fifth steal of the night and kicked it ahead to Grimes to make the Wizards call their second timeout of the quarter, still looking for their first points in it.
* Nurse kept to his word pregame — Watford almost certainly wouldn’t have appeared in any real minutes in this one, but he was able to see the floor for the final four and a half minutes of the game. Both guys will definitely need a couple games to get their legs under them after missing so much time. Oubre didn’t score until the game was well in hand himself. When Washington pulled their reserves, they briefly threatened to get the lead under single digits, but the surefire three-point shooting of Drummond nipped that in the bud.
Comments
Getting the conversation ready...