By: Kylan Watson

The Philadelphia 76ers were looking to rebound after getting beaten by the Washington Wizards on Monday night. Even though they were missing a big offensive piece in center Joel Embiid. It did not matter Philly used an offensive surge to destroy the Washington 128-112 and send them back to DC.

It did not look good for Philly early on. The Wizards were able to attack the basket at will and they had no answer for it. Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook got what they wanted from the field, and it did not matter what Philly threw at them. They combined for 56 of Washington’s 112-points. While they got what they wanted. Their play pushed their lead to seven points and were threatening to run Philly off the floor.  However, they turned up the heat on defense and prevented anyone else from emerging as the third scorer for the Wizards.  This prevented them from truly running away with the game and forcing a game six.

The Sixers needed a spark as they were missing Joel Embiid who missed this game with a small tear in his right meniscus. In stepped guard Seth Curry who started at point-guard tonight and he showed out. He scored 30-points (a new playoff career high), hit three three-pointers, and put his playmaking on display as he was able to find his teammates for wide-open shots. He got what he wanted from the floor Forward Tobias Harris also had himself a night he scored 28-points and rebounded from a bad shooting night on Monday night. He also got what he wanted from the floor and along with Curry kept Philly close enough to win the game.

On Curry’s performance after Ben Simmons encouragement, “Now I know who can coach Seth…we’re going to use Ben as a translator for Seth moving forward,” said Sixers Head Coach Doc Rivers.

Despite the scoring of Harris and Curry the night belonged to rookie guard Tyrese Maxey who single-handedly erased Washington’s seven-point lead. He scored 13-points and earned every point. He attacked the basket and took some punishment, but the young guard was called on and he answered the call. Maxey has earned his minutes and may have a bigger role in the second-round match-up against the Atlanta Hawks or New York Knicks. The Sixers showed off their depth tonight as the bench made an appearance scoring 40-points.

On the win, “It was a great team win. I just love how they played. I really believe that they believe they were better today. They played with that type of confidence,” said Rivers.

It was a balanced night for Philly and now they will get a few days off as they prepare for the Hawks or Knicks next week. They will need every day as they try to prepare for another tough playoff match-up against some tough backcourts. They will need to play some strong perimeter defense to keep Trae Young or Julius Randle in check. Philly will also need to get another balanced scoring night if they want to get to the Eastern Conference Finals.