January 08, 2025
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
For the second straight game, Kelly Oubre Jr. gave the Sixers a strong performance against one of his former teams.
From the outset, it seemed abundantly clear that even against a Sixers team missing two perennial All-Stars (Paul George and Joel Embiid did not suit up) and four more key contributors (Jared McCain, Kyle Lowry, Andre Drummond and KJ Martin also were unavailable), the NBA-worst Wizards were at too significant of a talent disadvantage to win in Philadelphia Wednesday night.
But even against a short-handed version of the worst team in the NBA, though, no team can take its foot off the gas. The Sixers learned that the hard way on Wednesday, allowing a vastly inferior Wizards team to inch closer and closer until wing sniper Corey Kispert put them ahead with a triple.
The Sixers found themselves on the wrong end of a string of brutal missed calls, and appeared to let those calls rattle them in a stretch when closing the game out strong had to be the sole focus.
Eric Gordon knocked down a crucial triple around the two-minute mark to knot the game up, and the teams went back and forth — with a few more controversial calls and non-calls mixed in — before Tyrese Maxey put the Sixers ahead with a driving layup inside of the final 25 seconds. Guerschon Yabusele came up with a massive swat of countryman Bilal Coulibaly, and after a few free throws, the Sixers had escaped with a win.
Here is what stood out from a much-needed 109-103 Sixers victory on Wednesday night — one which certainly should have been less stressful:
It has been a rough first few months of the season for the 36-year-old shooting guard, whose reliable three-point stroke has vanished for much of the season while opposing teams have also exploited his significant athletic and height deficiencies. But on a night in which Nurse called upon Gordon for some floor spacing — teams still treat him as a major threat from beyond the arc — Gordon came through early.
Gordon made all three of his shot attempts in the first quarter, with two of them coming from beyond the arc. He shook Wizards rookie Bub Carrington with a jab step before knocking down his first triple:
EG put him on ⛸️ (ice skates bc it's cold outside) pic.twitter.com/G1ixk4jD7L
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) January 9, 2025
On top of that, Gordon notched this nifty assist on a Yabusele corner three with a terrific one-handed, live-dribble pass:
kicked it to the corner! pic.twitter.com/TQOlWy7Gfi
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) January 9, 2025
As the trade deadline approaches, Gordon is running out of chances to establish himself as the sort of key component in the Sixers' rotation that the team anticipated him being.
Remember Richaun Holmes? The former Sixers second-round pick who spent the first three years of his NBA career in Philadelphia is now with the Wizards after being traded to Washington by the Dallas Mavericks last season.
With Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for December Alex Sarr sidelined due to an illness, Holmes stepped into Washington's rotation as its backup center.
Holmes is in his 10th NBA season and will finish 2024-25 with nearly $50 million in career earnings. Not too shabby for a No. 37 overall pick!
Martin continues to show signs of his peak form after a multi-game absence caused by a shoulder injury and handful of other nagging ailments. He reiterated after the team's Tuesday morning practice that he is trending in the right direction in every respect, and it has shown — including during the team's lengthy road trip, which concluded last week.
In the first half on Wednesday night, Martin shot 4-for-5 from the field, did not commit any turnovers despite having an outsized ball-handling role due to the aforementioned absent Sixers, swatted three shots and nabbed a steal.
Martin has an interesting, unique sense of comfort on off-balance two-point jumpers -- perhaps not the most efficient shot type in general, but if it works, it works — and he kicked off the Sixers' scoring with this basket:
spin and score. 😵💫 pic.twitter.com/Wj6RLhjQue
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) January 9, 2025
The Sixers held high hopes for Martin when they signed him to a four-year contract over the summer, and after a disappointing start caused by brutal circumstances, the 29-year-old is giving the Sixers quality two-way minutes right now.
Perhaps the greatest possible indictment of these Wizards is this: in the first half of a game in which Embiid and George were sidelined, Maxey posted a 3-for-13 shooting line from the field and a 1-for-10 line from beyond the arc... and the Sixers led by 11 points.
Maxey knocked down an early triple when Yabusele secured yet another offensive rebound off a missed free throw. Otherwise, his first half was brutal. Most of his shots were completely acceptable looks that simply did not go down.
Keeping the Wizards within arm's reach was two-way point guard Jared Butler. Not only did Butler impress while defending Maxey — often picking up full-court — but he scored 16 points and collected four assists on 7-for-10 shooting in just nine minutes off the bench in the first half.
Picking up the slack for Maxey were Yabusele, Oubre and Gordon, who all tied for the team lead in scoring at halftime with 11 points. Martin's two-way contributions were also extremely helpful as well, helping power the Sixers to an stress-free 59-48 half.
It has been a rough go for Council for much of his second NBA season, but in just a few plays on Wednesday night he showed why there are plenty of passionate believers in his skillset. Council is at his best when he gets out in transition, and he did that on two occasions for emphatic slams which energized the Wells Fargo Center crowd.
Council also seems to have an unusual knack for making difficult end-of-quarter threes, and he struck again to give the Sixers a 14-point lead at the end of the third quarter:
tricky Ricky! pic.twitter.com/tqc2SgwfFa
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) January 9, 2025
Council nearly added an alley-oop jam to his highlight reel, but missed a slam off a feed from his good friend Maxey.
It is hard to come up words which have not already been said or written about Yabusele, who has outpaced even the greatest of expectations placed upon the 29-year-old in his first season with the Sixers. You name it, Yabusele has done it, and his two-way performances night in and night out represent one of the most encouraging developments in a season filled with causes for concern. With Yabusele, the only concern is whether he is playing so well that another team will price the Sixers out of a chance to re-sign him next summer.
Yabusele's points per game average is now in the double-digits on the year — he averaged 2.3 points per game across his two seasons with the Boston Celtics before a five-year stint playing overseas — and has been lights-out as a three-point shooter. Yabusele's improved stroke was the most significant factor in his NBA return after a stellar showing during the 2024 Olympics, and it has been far better than anticipated in Philadelphia.
By the time the third quarter had come to a close — with the Sixers still comfortably ahead — Yabusele had made five threes on seven attempts, bringing his season-long three-point percentage above 40 percent on considerable volume.
three 3️⃣s for @yabusele28 !! pic.twitter.com/PBcvvByjst
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) January 9, 2025
"Yabu's been great, dude," Maxey said last month. "He's done so many different things: played the five, played the four, started, come off the bench. Like, he's done everything that the coaches have asked him to do. And all you can do is appreciate someone like that, man. Shooting threes, rebounding, posting up. Sometimes we're going to throw the ball to him in the post because he's a matchup problem down there, he knows how to score. Yabu's been great... Yabu's been great."
There is not much to be said about the Sixers' late-game efforts other than this: for a team which needs to earn every win it can after a disastrous 3-14 start to the season, this sort of close to a game — regardless of the outcome — is not acceptable, no matter who is on the floor.
Up next: The Sixers' set of three games at home will conclude on Friday night when they host the New Orleans Pelicans.
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