3 biggest takeaways for Sixers following home win over Wizards

5 days ago 2

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia 76ers were able to bounce back with a 131-110 win over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday as they improved to 20-15 on the season. The Sixers had a disappointing loss to the depleted Denver Nuggets on Monday night and needed to get back in the win column against the Wizards.

Tyrese Maxey had 22 points and eight assists for Philadelphia while Joel Embiid had 28 points and seven rebounds, and Paul George had 23 points and five assists. The Sixers also received 11 points and six rebounds from Dominick Barlow while VJ Edgecombe had 13 points, six rebounds, seven assists, and five steals. Quentin Grimes added 16 points and Andre Drummond had 11 and four rebounds.

Here are the three biggest takeaways following the win:

The Big 3 leads the way

The play of Philadelphia’s star trio was a big standout in this one. Of course, it’s the Wizards and one can argue that this was what they were supposed to do, but Maxey, Embiid, and George dominated in this one. The three were efficient on the offensive end, they set the tone, and made sure the Sixers were going to bounce back. Again, these are the types of performances that they can build on for the future. The trio combined for 73 points in this one.

"I think start with Jo," said coach Nick Nurse. "I think he was just sharper. Getting sharper, getting more aggressive. I always saying when he's driving the ball, it's a good thing. He took it in there quite a bit. Tyrese, obviously, was pretty sharp too, and I thought—look, Barlow fits good with those guys. I thought he set up PG, a lot. He ended up getting some kick outs. Off offensive rebounds and give PG some really clean looks. So, that part was pretty good."

George calms the Sixers

The Wizards opened up the second quarter on an 11-0 run to turn a 7-point deficit into a 4-point lead. Nurse inserted George back into the game and the 9-time All-Star settled the Sixers down a bit. He scored 13 in the second quarter as he shot 4-for-5 overall and 3-for-4 from deep. It was impressive to see as George continues to get back into a rhythm and begin looking like himself a bit.

George stated on the second quarter stretch:

"I thought it was a good group that was out there. We weren't happy the first stint. We went down, I think, four points or something like that, into the half. So, that was the same group that was in for that second part, we weren't happy. We talked about it at half, that we need to be better, talked to talked about it in the huddle, that we need to be better going back out there. I thought we raised the intensity. Got our hands, our feet acclimated, caused some turnovers, which turned into some easy baskets, and I thought we just got settled in at that point. Just keep applying pressure."

Barlow steps up

The Sixers needed somebody to step up and help the star trio on the offensive end. Barlow gave Philadelphia a big lift as he was able to get some easy buckets in the third when the Wizards were loading up on the stars. He cut baseline for easy looks and he also knocked down a big corner 3-pointer. His offensive contributions were helpful and complemented his rebounding ability on the offensive glass.

"He got one or two in transition," Nurse said of Barlow. "He took a couple drives in there. It's great. He has to play through contact and still able to finish them and again, I think, his four offensive rebounds, I bet you three of them, he kicked out for 3s. I mean, just guessing, because it seemed like he did it quite a bit tonight. So, it's a good combination there."

This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: 3 biggest takeaways for Sixers following home win over Wizards

Read Entire Article