By: Kylan Watson
After falling to the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night, the Philadelphia 76ers faced the Washington Wizards for the second time this season. Tyrese Maxey scored 20 of his 35 points in the third quarter to power the Sixers to the 121-102 victory over Washington for their 11th victory of the season.
The Sixers once again found their offensive rhythm early in this game and before Washington could even settle into their rhythm, Philly had a big lead in the game. Maxey (35 points) and Jared McCain (14 points) combined for 49 of the Sixers’ 121points. McCain took full advantage of his opportunity at increased minutes with Quentin Grimes missing this game with a strained calf. He has rediscovered his offensive rhythm in the last few games and it has benefitted the Sixers and given them a consistent three-point shooter and an even bigger scoring punch off the bench. McCain can slot into that sixth man role if Grimes must miss considerable time with his calf strain/tightness. In this game there was nothing the Wizards could do to stop him in this contest they had no one available who could make it difficult for him to score.
Despite the scoring explosion from McCain and Maxey, Washington continued to fight in this contest and were able to make things difficult for the Sixers. Tristan Vukcevic scored 16 points in this contest ands he was one of the few Wizards players who found their offensive rhythm. The Sixers were able to slow him down later in this contest and that allowed them to pull away in this game and get a bounce back victory after falling to the Hawks.
The third quarter has been the worse played quarter the Sixers have played throughout this season. The last few games they have improved their margin in the third quarter and have kept things competitive with the opposing team instead of outright losing it like they have been doing. They continued that trend in this game as this was the best third quarter they played all season. Thanks to a 20-point scoring explosion from Maxey which stopped a Wizards comeback effort and sealed the game for the Sixers. He only played in this game for 28 minutes and was able to rest throughout the fourth quarter. Which is great for the Sixers because he leads the league in minutes (40.7 minutes per game), and with a back-to-back coming up he will need all the rest he can get if they want him to finish this season healthy.
Philly will now prepare for another back-to-back as they play the Golden State Warriors in South Philadelphia on Thursday night. The Sixers should get either Quentin Grimes or Joel Embiid back for this game, but they will need to communicate on the defensive end and stay attached to their man to slowdown the explosive offense of Golden State, and continue to use their ball movement to create high-percentage scoring opportunities on the offensive end. Implementing these things into their game plan on Thursday will put them in great position to win their 12th game of the season.