Sixers-Jazz: What we learned from Saturday’s crucial win against Utah

The undermanned Sixers pulled away late in the fourth to take a 126-116 win over the Utah Jazz.

With the win, the Sixers jump all the way from ninth to seventh in the NBA’s Eastern Conference standings. Quentin Grimes led the Sixers with 25 points, and rookie VJ Edgecombe added 22, along with a team-high 13 rebounds.

“We stayed the course,” Sixers forward Trendon Watford said postgame. Watford would finish with 20 points. “It was an up-and-down game; they took the lead, and then we’d take the lead. We just had to grind it out, and that was big.”

Here’s what we learned from a late night in Salt Lake City...

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Barlow left the game in the first quarter with a leg injury that was later determined to be a left ankle sprain. He limped off the court and into the locker room, replaced by Jabari Walker. He played just four minutes and scored one point on Saturday before the injury.

The forward started the season on a two-way deal, and quickly worked his way into a regular role in the rotation. His contract was converted to a two-year standard contract on Feb. 5.

Barlow has averaged 8.3 points and 4.8 rebounds in 59 games this season. The Sixers announced in the second quarter that Barlow would not return after he suffered an ankle sprain.

The news nearly got even worse after Edgecombe also left the game late in the second quarter with an injury. He appeared to be off-balance heading into the locker room after taking an elbow to the face from Utah’s Kyle Filipowski.

But Edgecombe returned to the game out of halftime and put up another solid performance. The Sixers rookie finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds playing a team-high 38 minutes.

The Sixers might have won the game, but they still didn’t play particularly well, especially against a team focused more on improving their lottery odds than winning.

They turned the ball over ten times in the first half, with three each from Watford and Grimes. Those turnovers left the Sixers behind the ball defensively, adding to the fact that four players sat on three fouls at halftime. Utah scored 16 points in the first half off 10 turnovers, compared to the Sixers’ two points off four turnovers.

Since returning to the Sixers and the NBA, Cam Payne has put up the best single-game performance of his career. However, since that game he’s also struggled to find consistency, especially from deep, now thrust into a larger role than he might have expected after injury to All-Star Tyrese Maxey.

After his 8-for-8 game from three in a 32-point outburst against the Memphis Grizzlies on March 10, Payne has shot just 24% from three over the last five entering Saturday’s game in Salt Lake City, as the Sixers collectively continue to struggle from behind the arc. But on Saturday, Payne found his shooting touch, going 3-for-7 from three and scoring 16 points in the win.

The Sixers head back to Philly in preparation to host Oklahoma City at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Monday (7 p.m., NBCSP).

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