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The Sixers’ Youngsters and Role Players are Keeping this Ship from Sinking
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Weird night in Philly sports with three teams all starting around 10 p.m. on Thursday.
The Flyers won, Penn lost, and the depleted Sixers took out the dreadful Kings in Sacramento behind a career-high 38 points from rookie VJ Edgecombe:
The Sixers hung 45 on these dudes in the 1st quarter. No Embiid, no Paul George, no Tyrese Maxey, no Kelly Oubre Jr. But VJ was out of his mind, Justin Edwards put up a career-high 32 of his own, Quentin Grimes added 27, and they pretty much ran Sacramento off the floor while shooting 50% from the floor and 47% from three.
Credit where it’s due – these guys are keeping the Sixers afloat right now. They are keeping the ship from sinking to the very bottom of the Mariana Trench. That’s four wins out of six games, and while the victories were against the Kings, Nets, Grizzlies, and Blazers, they’re doing what they have to do, and that’s taking out the trash to protect seeding as much as possible for the return of the big guns.
As it stands, the Sixers remain 9th in the East, but the gap between 6 and 9 is just a half game right now. It’s the Sixers and Heat at 38-32 while the Magic and Hawks are 38-31. That half game is the difference between play-in tournament and then Boston/Detroit in the first round, or no play-in to set up a 3/6 matchup against the Knicks or Cavs.
The Sixers play the 21-win Jazz in Utah on Saturday night and should win that game if they play the way they did on Thursday night. They’ll get their doors blown off by OKC at home on Monday and then have a couple of interesting road games against the Hornets and Heat after a mid-week game against the Bulls.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com