3 Sixers Takeaways: Illness, 3-Ball Costly Against Nets
Reaching the Christmas holiday with a 16-12 record should’ve felt like an accomplishment. Considering the limited availability of their stars, the Philadelphia 76ers have positioned themselves well to step through…
Reaching the Christmas holiday with a 16-12 record should've felt like an accomplishment. Considering the limited availability of their stars, the Philadelphia 76ers have positioned themselves well to step through an open door in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
The Sixers, however, left meat on the bone with a disappointing home loss to the Brooklyn Nets. They'll sit out the NBA on Christmas Day for the first time since 2021, a discouraging sign for the state of the franchise, while regrouping for five straight and eight of 10 games on the road through January 12.
- Friday 12/19 at Madison Square Garden: Sixers 116, New York Knicks 107
- Sunday 12/21 at Xfinity Mobile Arena: Sixers 121, Dallas Mavericks 114
- Tuesday 12/23 at Xfinity Mobile Arena: Brooklyn Nets 114, Sixers 106
Sixers Hand Gift To Nets
The Sixers entered their final home game of the calendar year with strong momentum after six wins in eight tries. A matchup against the 8-19 Nets looked like an easy opportunity to bank another win before a five-game road trip while Disney On Ice invades Xfinity Mobile Arena over the holidays.
Nick Nurse suddenly cancelled Tuesday’s shootaround and later announced VJ Edgecombe, Quentin Grimes, and Dominick Barlow would miss the Brooklyn game. The same bug that infected Tyrese Maxey to sit for two games on Dec. 12 and 14 had hit his three teammates.
Maxey lost his rhythm in his worst shooting night of the season. He shot 3-14 (21.4%) from the field and 0-5 from three-point range. The Sixers shot only 7-27 (25.9%) from beyond the arc. Nurse spoke about his star player's clunker.
“He was having a hard time shaking free. There wasn’t too much, even his ones down the lane. There’s some of those that he got to the clearance, but I didn’t think there was enough freedom on some of those. Probably wish he would’ve shot a few more stepback threes and things like that. I’ve got to look at it. They were switching. They had a big guy on him. We didn’t really make them pay for that very much. He got some good ones. Tough night for him, but he wasn’t alone.”
-Nick Nurse
The Nets, meanwhile, bombed 17-45 three-pointers (38%) in the runaway victory. Michael Porter Jr. led the way with 28 points, including five three-balls.
Joel Embiid was a bright spot offensively. The towering center – despite forcing the home crowd to hold their breaths with a third quarter injury – dropped 27 points on 8-13 from the field. He again struggled with quickness protecting the rim on the defensive end, however.
Andre Drummond played 17 strong minutes off the bench and grabbed eight of his 13 rebounds off the offensive glass. The Sixers will look Drummond's way to compensate for Embiid’s physical limitations if they hope to ride their former MVP during the second half of the season.
VJ Edgecombe Hot Streak
The illness hit the third-overall pick at the wrong time. Edgecombe scored 20 or more points in four consecutive games before sitting against the Nets. He had reached the plateau only three other times in the first 20 games of his NBA career.
The peak of his hot streak came in the Friday night victory at Madison Square Garden on national television. His emphatic putback jam in the final minutes of the fourth quarter spurred legendary play-by-play announcer Ian Eagle to scream his “Valdez Drexel Edgecombe Jr.!” call.
Edgecombe briefly passed Cooper Flagg in NBA Rookie of the Year odds in October after a record-breaking 34-point debut. However, his (expected) rookie inconsistencies pushed him down the list.
The Bahamian guard helped the Sixers to a victory over Flagg and the Mavericks in Philadelphia on Sunday, however. He’s growing into a key role as part of the team’s identity with energy in a young backcourt with Maxey, Grimes, and Jared McCain.
A Sixers Naughty & Nice List
It’s Christmas time in sports radio too. Unfiltered checked their naughty or nice lists for each of the four major Philadelphia teams.
Maxey and Edgecombe were easy decisions, but Joel Embiid and Nick Nurse sparked a little bit more controversy. Bill Colarulo started off with a breakdown of the Big Fella.
“It’s not his fault that he’s on the naughty list, but you can’t put him on the nice list. He changes everything about this Sixers team when he’s on the court, and it’s unfortunate because you have this high-flying... young backcourt that wants to run and gun. Then Joel gets on the court, and it just slows everything down. He’s not the same player that he used to be. He can’t defend the way he used to defend. He can still score. He can still create, but it’s done in a different way. When he’s not on the court versus when he is, it’s such a drastic difference.”
-Bill Colarulo on 97.5 The Fanatic
Embiid has become the unorthodox symbol of a team caught in a strange transition with emerging young players and deteriorating veteran players on the same roster in playoff competition.
The Sixers limped to a 24-58 record last season while Nurse struggled to find answers. The team’s NBA Finals odds had no chance to survive Embiid's absence, but additional injuries to starting players created even more drastic challenges for their head coach.
Photo by Elsa/Getty ImagesNurse has utilized the availability of veterans Andre Drummond and Paul George more effectively in 2025-26. However, Bottalico checked Philadelphia's third-year head coach on the nice list for other reasons. He focused on Nurse's help in the big-picture transition toward Maxey as the team’s leader given Embiid’s limited availability.
“He (Nurse) has let the team transform into what they are now. He didn’t sit back this year and say ‘Nope, Joel’s going to be the main character in this play.’ I think what he’s done is he has made his guards into a bigger part of the game. He’s made Tyrese Maxey into the go-to player on this team.”
-Ricky Bottalico
- Friday 12/26 vs. Chicago Bulls at 7:30pm on 97.5 The Fanatic
- Sunday 12/28 vs. Oklahoma City Thunder at 3:30pm on 97.5 The Fanatic
Advanced Stats courtesy of Cleaning the Glass and ESPN Analytics
