Sixers’ Kelly Oubre Jr. finds second-half rhythm in return from fractured rib: ‘It’s a blessing, man’
His 12 points and three rebounds in 19 minutes were an important initial personal step — and key to the Sixers’ 131-126 victory at Washington Wednesday night.
WASHINGTON — In less than two minutes of fourth-quarter game time, Kelly Oubre Jr. slammed home two go-ahead dunks and hit an off-the-glass jumper through contact for an old-fashioned three-point play.
And about two minutes after that, the 76ers wing blew kisses to the crowd following a corner three-pointer, which gave his team a seven-point lead over the Wizards with 6 minutes, 34 seconds to play.
Those types of athletic, momentum-generating plays are what teammate Tyrese Maxey refers to as “K9 stuff,” a nod to Oubre’s jersey number and the 16.3 points and 5.1 rebounds he had averaged in his first eight games in Philly. The Sixers have missed such flash and production for the past three-plus weeks, while Oubre recovered from a fractured rib sustained in a reported hit-and-run accident in Center City. And though Oubre acknowledged he needed to control his emotions in his return to the court, his 12 points and three rebounds in 19:25 were an important initial personal step — and key to the Sixers’ 131-126 victory Wednesday night.
“It’s a blessing, man,” Oubre said postgame. “I’ve been on the couch and in rehab facilities and things like that this past month, so it feels amazing. And especially coming off of something pretty crazy in my life, to play basketball, it brings everything home.
“This is what I do. It’s what I love to do, and I’m going to smile doing something that I love.”
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It was coincidental that Oubre’s first game back occurred in Washington, where he played parts of his first four NBA seasons. Though he ran into several familiar faces as he moved through Capital One Arena, he said, he “actually [has] a lot of anxiety playing here because I usually want to destroy them.”
Still, excitement brewed as Oubre went over plays on a white board with assistant Coby Karl in the pregame locker room, as he elevated for a dunk during warm-ups after being hand-picked by Tobias Harris, and as he chatted with Danuel House Jr. and Bryan Gates from the bench just before tipoff. When Oubre checked in for the first time late in the first quarter, faint screams from the crowd indicated that some in the nation’s capital remain fond of him.
“Obviously, this being my first game back, this wasn’t a ‘destroyer’ night,” Oubre said. “I just kind of played to that hand and let the game come to me and just [played] smooth.”
Sixers coach Nick Nurse, meanwhile, said he was “worried” about Oubre during five first-half minutes that Nurse described as out of sorts. Oubre took a feed from Maxey for a cutting dunk in the last minute of the first quarter, but also traveled early in the second.
After some halftime pondering, however, Nurse kept Oubre on a similar substitution plan. Shortly after entering late in the third quarter, he hit the floor while going up for a finish inside. But then Oubre drew an offensive foul and celebrated by emphatically pointing his arm to signal that possession had flipped to the Sixers. And then came his fourth-quarter scoring burst, which primarily unfolded while reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid rested before finishing off his 50-point onslaught.
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“I was able to kind of catch the pace of the guys and not look back after that,” Oubre said. “This game is about rhythm. This game is about fluid motion and everybody kind of being tied together. … When [Embiid is] not in the game, that was kind of time to turn it up and turn it on.”
Added Nurse: “His second half was amazing. He was kind of the spark with just a bunch of stuff.”
When asked if he experienced any pain during the game, Oubre acknowledged “adrenaline kind of took over, so I might feel some later when I go to sleep.” Yet he praised the efforts of the Sixers’ medical and strength and conditioning staff for “all the running we did to stay ready and prepare.” He shrugged off a question about his next recovery steps, saying “I just want to play basketball.”
“Just continue to gain Coach’s trust,” Oubre said. “And just show that I’m able to be in there in big moments and just stay out there and just continue to compete with the guys.”
Wednesday’s game was the first step. Oubre left the locker room wearing a shirt that read: “Make sure you’re happy in real life and not just on social media” on the back.
It was apparent that Oubre — and the Sixers — were thrilled “K9 stuff” had returned.
“He gets offensive rebounds, he cuts, he shoots threes,” Maxey said. “… He does defensive things that are amazing. We missed him.”