Sixers-Celtics: VJ Edgecombe, Tyrese Maxey combine for 59 points as Philly evens series; Joel Embiid status update

The 76ers have depended on VJ Edgecombe all season.

With Joel Embiid and Paul George out of the lineup for injury and suspension, Edgecombe has served as the second in command behind Tyrese Maxey despite being in his first NBA season.

But after his Game 1 performance at TD Garden — 13 points on 6-of-16 shooting — some were wondering if he had regressed back to the rookie mean. But this is the player who set a franchise record against these very Celtics in his NBA debut.

Ahead of the playoffs, Sixers beat writer Gina Mizell went deep on the Sixers young guards, who are leading the way with 35 combined first-half points in Game 2. ...

Maxey and Edgecombe have fueled this Sixers season as an All-NBA contender and first-year player likely to finish third on an exceptional Rookie of the Year ballot. The Sixers likely will go as far as the pair can lead them, starting with Wednesday’s play-in tournament matchup against the Orlando Magic (7:30 p.m., Prime Video). And it marks another move into the Sixers’ future that has already been percolating, with Maxey and Edgecombe creating the core duo around which the franchise should build.

“We have this chip on our shoulder, I think,” Maxey said. “We’re competitive, and we want to win. He don’t care about nothing but winning. He don’t care about his points. He don’t care about his stats. All he care about is winning, and it’s evident in his play, so that’s why we get along.”

The 76ers entered halftime of Game 2 in a much difference place than they were two days ago.

Leading 50-48 after 24 minutes, the Sixers had a "painful" film session and a renewed energy and effort to thank. After Paul George and Tyrese Maxey were the only principle players to produce on Sunday, reinforcements from VJ Edgecombe (20 points), Andre Drummond (8) and Quentin Grimes (6) in the scoring department made the difference. Maxey added 15 in the first half Tuesday.

Nurse wasn't upset with the Sixers' shot quality, but he thought they missed a few makable ones and stopped taking them too early. It could've been that simple with the Sixers shooting 25 of 49 in the first half, including 10-for-19 from the three-point line. In Game 1, those numbers were 16 of 48 (33%) and 2 of 16 (12.5%).

The 76ers came out with a clear plan to start Game 2 of their first-round series against the Boston Celtics: get Paul George and VJ Edgecombe going and get physical with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

The former worked a little more than the latter.

George got off to another hot start with two buckets to begin the game, while Edgecombe added a bucket in transition and hit a midrange look from the elbow.

Adem Bona will remain the Sixers’ starting center for Game 2 in Boston.

It was worth wondering if Nurse might shift veteran Andre Drummond into that spot, after Bona struggled in his playoff debut Sunday. The second-year big man picked up two fouls in the game’s first two minutes, missed two consecutive put-back attempts off offensive rebounds in the first half, and eventually finished with three points and three rebounds in 14 minutes.

“The biggest thing is you’ve kind of got that one under your belt now,” Nurse said of Bona after Game 1. “You’ve got to kind of learn from what you can and you’ve got to go out and prove you can play better. … If he made a few of those finishes, he probably has a decent game.”

The Packer Avenue exit ramp on I-95 South is closed for construction for the next month.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation closed the Packer Avenue exit ramp, or Exit 19, in South Philadelphia on Tuesday to allow crews to make improvements as part of an ongoing I-95 repair project, according to the agency. The ramp is scheduled to remain closed until May 17.

Drivers can detour around the Packer Avenue exit by taking either of the two closest exits, Exit 17 at Broad Street, or Exit 20 at Columbus Boulevard and Washington Avenue.

The 76ers had the night off on Monday but the NBA playoffs were still chock-full of Philly connections.

Villanova was represented across multiple games and tense moments. As expected, the 'Nova Knicks factored heavily in their matchup against the Atlanta Hawks. Their fingerprints were all over what looked like another win in their first-round series. The Knicks held a 100-92 win with 5:37 left before CJ McCollum took over late, placing Jalen Brunson in several isolation situations and helped his team take a 107-106 lead.

The 'Nova Knicks had one more shot, though, as Josh Hart rebounded McCollum's free-throw miss and found Mikal Bridges streaking toward the corner. He got to his patented baseline fadeaway but couldn't convert.

BOSTON – Joel Embiid will remain out for Game 2 of the Sixers’ first-round series while continuing to recover from an appendectomy. But he has begun a strength and conditioning program in Philly, an update provided by the team Monday after Embiid’s wife, Anne De Paula, posted an Instagram story that their son, Arthur, “went to the gym with Dad.”

Does that increase the chances that Embiid could return sometime during this series? Or does it give the Sixers an extra dash of motivation to try to extend their season?

Pump the brakes.

Maybe we were expecting a little too much out of VJ Edgecombe. Not that anybody thought he was going to carry the Sixers to the Eastern Conference semifinals through the sheer force of his will. But you could be forgiven if you were hoping for something more than the 13 points on 6-of-16 shooting that the rookie produced in a Game 1 blowout loss to the Celtics.

Was that really too much to ask?

Well, yeah, it probably was.

So what channel will the 76ers plan on tonight?

Tonight's Game 2 between the Sixers and Boston Celtics jumps to Peacock, NBC's subscription service, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

Thankfully, the game will also air on the newly relaunched NBC Sports Network, with Jason Benetti and Robbie Hummel calling all the action, and Jordan Cornette reporting courtside at TD Garden.

Joel Embiid is back working out, but don’t expect to see him in a Sixers jersey anytime soon. 

The team announced Embiid has begun a strength and conditioning program back in Philadelphia following an emergency appendectomy April 9. 

It’s unclear when Embiid will be back on the court, but a short series doesn’t help the odds of a return during the Sixers' playoff run. He certainly won't be available for tonight's Game 2 at TD Garden in Boston.

Nick Nurse typically asks his 76ers video staff to edit game footage into offense, defense, and “special teams” sections that can succinctly “tell the story” of what unfolded.

Not so with his team’s brutal 123-91 Game 1 loss to the Celtics. Players and coaches rewatched the game in its entirety on Monday afternoon, with plenty of stops and starts along the way.

“It was pretty painful,” Nurse said following the Sixers’ practice at Harvard. “ … We did a lot of things not very well. A lot of things out of character. So it was long. Lots to look at and lots to talk about.”