Inside Sixers: Tyrese Maxey’s history with Anthony Edwards, VJ Edgecombe’s three-point routine, and more

INDIANAPOLIS — As soon as the 76ers boarded their flight following a brutal loss at the New Orleans Pelicans, the conversation turned serious.

“What do we want to do? What team do we want to be?” All-Star point guard Tyrese Maxey recalled of the message. “… This is a defining moment in our season. It’s not make-or-break, but it’s time to go.”

What began as a woeful three-game road trip quickly flipped into a successful one. The Sixers snapped a four-game skid by pulling off an impressive victory at the Minnesota Timberwolves on the second night of a back-to-back, then took care of business against the short-handed and tanking Indiana Pacers. Joel Embiid returned from what he called a stress reaction in his right leg against Indiana, totaling 27 points on 11-of-17 shooting, six rebounds, and five assists in an outing he said felt “OK.”

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Yet the most encouraging development for the Sixers is that Maxey is officially humming again, after a rough shooting start out of the All-Star break. He totaled 39 points and eight assists against Minnesota, attacking immediately with his speed instead of overanalyzing schemes, head coach Nick Nurse said. Maxey followed that by nearly amassing a 32-point triple-double (nine rebounds, eight assists) in three quarters of work, which was bolstered by Embiid’s presence.

And Maxey ripped off a highlight dunk on fellow All-Star and friend Anthony Edwards, saying that play encapsulated how the Sixers “needed to let some emotions out after the last week or so.”

“Amazing mental adjustment for him,” Nurse added of Maxey following that victory in Minneapolis. “To come in and have some tough games, and then just kind of know we really need him to have a great one, and he just does it.

“He plays like that, and then all of a sudden everybody else gets lifted too. And that’s what great players are supposed to do.”

Fueling that surge after the New Orleans disaster, Maxey said, were “encouraging words” he received from family back home, who told him there “ain’t no chance you’re going to let your team lose five in a row.” Teammate and close friend Trendon Watford also provided some tough love on that plane ride, saying, “go help your team win a game, and do whatever it takes.”

The Sixers next return home for one game against the Miami Heat, while hanging onto the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference standings entering Wednesday (32-26). After that is a marquee showdown at the Boston Celtics, who sit second in the East and are arguably the NBA’s biggest surprise this season.

Until then, here are some snapshots from the road trip …

Dive into the video archives belonging to the mother of Maxey’s best friend, Chris Harris, and one would find footage of them playing against Edwards as fifth-graders.

“Short, chubby, strong,” Maxey said of Edwards back then. “And now, he’s that.”

Since then, Maxey and Edwards have coincidentally remained alongside each other during their journeys into NBA stardom.

They hung out “every single day” at the McDonald’s All-America game as high-schoolers. They both played their one college basketball season in the SEC — Maxey at Kentucky, and Edwards at Georgia. They were selections in a strange 2020 draft, with Edwards going first overall and Maxey slipping to 21st. And earlier this month, their young Team Stars won the All-Star tournament. Edwards was the MVP of the event, while Maxey was prominently featured as the top American fan vote-getter.

“[He’s] a guy that I really appreciate talking to,” Maxey said of Edwards. “I appreciate his craft. I appreciate his story. We just kind of clicked.”

So when Maxey and Edwards faced off Sunday, it was all competitive love. Maxey said that when Edwards scored on him early and talked trash, “it kind of woke me up a little bit.” Then Maxey returned the favor by yamming the ball on Edwards — a player known for his thunderous dunks — and gave Edwards the mean mug.

» READ MORE: Tyrese Maxey finished a highlight-reel dunk over Anthony Edwards. VJ Edgecombe was not impressed.

“I didn’t know that he was going downhill,” Edwards told reporters after the game. “I just end up turning my head and I’m thinking he’s going to lay it up, and he punched it. It was a quick little dunk, too. I couldn’t even get a chance to block it.

“That’s why we play the game. I’m not mad at that.”

VJ Edgecombe simply did not care — about his three-point shot, that is. If he got an open look against the Timberwolves, he let it fly.

“Thank God I wasn’t missing,” he said after the game.

The result was a career-high six makes on seven attempts, as part of a 24-point night for the Sixers’ standout rookie guard. He followed that up with a 23-point effort at Indiana, including a 2-of-4 mark from long range. Edgecombe entered Thursday shooting 36.4% on 5.7 three-point attempts per game, and has a knack for knocking down clutch deep shots (12-of-22 when a game is within five points with five minutes or less remaining).

“That’s a really great attitude to have,” Nurse said of Edgecombe’s “doesn’t care” approach. “That’s what he should do. Take rhythm shots. Take bail-out ones when we need him at the end of the shot clock.”

That combination of confidence and results continue to make Edgecombe’s shooting — the biggest knock against his game before being drafted third overall — a pleasant surprise.

» READ MORE: VJ Edgecombe’s athleticism is electric. But his basketball IQ is driving the Sixers rookie’s early success.

He shot 34% on 4.6 attempts during his one season at Baylor, though coach Scott Drew told The Inquirer that mark improved with a midseason form adjustment. Nurse called Edgecombe’s mechanics “pretty good” during the pre-draft process. And Edgecombe ignored such critics.

“The people saying I couldn’t shoot,” Edgecombe told The Inquirer from the locker room in Minneapolis, “are the people that are not playing basketball.”

Edgecombe credits the “countless reps” put in with assistant coach Rico Hines, from the summer until now. They achieved a higher arc on his shot. Now, he is working on making his release quicker and getting more comfortable launching off the dribble.

If minor details — such as the ball pickup before shooting — do not feel right, Edgecombe will repeat the repetition. They continue to drill “until I like the make, for real.”

When does that occur?

“All net,” he said. “Like a swish.”

Plus/minus is considered to be a flawed or incomplete stat. But reserve center Adem Bona was a plus-27 in less than 15 minutes against the Pacers, an insane metric that matched the eye test that identified the performance as one of his best of the season.

Bona made an across-the-box-score impact, with six points on 3-of-3 shooting, five rebounds, three assists, two steals, and one block. He was in the middle — literally and figuratively — of the Sixers’ second-quarter run to flip an eight-point deficit into a double-digit advantage, and the second-half surge to extend the lead to as many as 28 points.

“I just do what I do,” he said. “… Inject energy to the team, communicate, and just anchor the defense.

“I realized [my plus/minus] after the game. But that’s my goal whenever I step on the floor, to impact the team positively.”

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The Timberwolves entered Sunday’s game undersized, with Rudy Gobert and Naz Reid both out. And when fill-in starter Joan Beringer got into foul trouble, Minnesota went small and then “super small,” as Nurse described.

The Sixers countered at the end of the first half with a three-guard lineup, plus the 6-foot-9 Dominick Barlow at center. Barlow also played that position for a stretch in New Orleans the previous night.

Barlow said Saturday that he still has not practiced at that spot much throughout this season, while elevating himself to a starting forward spot and having his two-way contract converted to a standard deal earlier this month. But Nurse sees potential for Barlow to be an offensive “hub” in the middle, because of his ability to handle the ball, roll, and back cut in the middle of the floor.

“I kind of just figured it out,” Barlow said, “and try to have that approach whatever position I’m playing.”

The friendship between Nurse and Minnesota coach Chris Finch, who both cut their teeth in the British Basketball League and G League, remains a popular topic whenever their teams match up. When asked Sunday if he spends more time watching Timberwolves games, Nurse acknowledged Finch’s team “probably gets double time, just to see what’s going on.”

So what is Nurse’s game-watching routine on nights the Sixers do not play?

He generally focuses on whichever teams the Sixers will face in the near future. He will keep track of other scores on an iPad. And when he notices another game is close in the final three minutes, he will flip over to catch the end.

» READ MORE: Quentin Grimes vows to stay in ‘attack mode’ for Sixers after breakout performance

As veteran guard Kyle Lowry grabbed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from the visitors’ locker room before Tuesday’s game in Indiana, teammate Cameron Payne asked for one too. Lowry then complimented the bread, calling it perhaps the best he has had this season.

That meal so often associated with childhood is wildly popular across professional sports, either in traditional form or as an “Uncrustable.” So popular that ESPN published a 2017 feature on PB&J, calling the sandwich “the NBA’s secret addiction.”

But a question must accompany this culinary choice: Grape or strawberry jelly?

Payne and Barlow, who was sitting nearby during the exchange, chose grape. Lowry’s preference is strawberry.