VJ Edgecombe expects warm welcome in Philly; Sixers learning to live with Joel Embiid’s minutes restriction

VJ Edgecombe hasn’t seen the fan reaction to his breakout performance against Boston. He’s barely even left his house.

“Nobody’s really seen me,” Edgecombe said jokingly. “I’ve been in my house. I go to my car, and my windows are tinted, so you can’t see if that’s me.”

But after an NBA debut that ranked among the all-time greats, Edgecombe is quickly winning over a fan base that came into the year with low expectations.

» READ MORE: The Sixers started their season off on the right foot. They’re hoping to keep that momentum.

After his 34-point performance in the 117-116 win over Boston in the opener at TD Garden, Edgecombe will play his first regular season home game at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday against the Hornets. He’s expecting a rowdy fan environment — but he was expecting that even before his breakout debut.

“I know Philly fans are passionate, so I’m expecting every game to be like that. If I had a good game or not, I was expecting it to be like that,” Edgecombe said. “Credit to the fans for just showing love to the city, showing love to the sports teams. That’s the main thing. We all just try to have a connection with the fans. We’re regular people, so having a connection with the fans means a lot.”

If the expectations for the No. 3 overall pick weren’t high enough, his first game — the third-highest scoring debut in NBA history behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 43 points on Oct. 24, 1959, and Frank Selvy’s 35 on Nov. 30, 1954 — sent them through the stratosphere. But Edgecombe is keeping a cool head and taking it one game at a time.

“Building blocks, just trying to take steps in the right direction, learn from film,” Edgecombe said. “I was watching film just now, learning, knowing team tendencies, know what they do. It’s just a steady progression. I’ve played one NBA game. That doesn’t determine who I am as a player.”

To defend the slim lead over the Celtics in the game’s final minutes, Nick Nurse turned to Dominick Barlow at center because Joel Embiid had already hit his 20-minute limit. Nurse expects that limit to be in place for the foreseeable future.

“We knew going in what [Embiid’s minutes restriction] was,” Nurse said. “It was very similar to what it was in the preseason game. We had a plan of what we were going to do with it, and we pretty much stuck to that plan. Wasn’t a whole lot of variation.”

The Celtics had a relatively small lineup, which matched up well with the Sixers’ guards and allowed Nurse to use the 6-foot-9 Barlow to close in that spot. Nurse also said he expects to use Jabari Walker a bit at the five with Embiid off the court.

Embiid scored just four points and grabbed six rebounds in his 20 minutes, 18 seconds of game action. The Sixers were minus-16 in his minutes. He’s still working his way back from the knee injury that kept him out for most of 2024-25, and Nurse said he’s working to find ways to fit into what the Sixers are doing well, which, on Wednesday, was letting Edgecombe and Maxey, who combined for 74 of the Sixers’ 117 points on Wednesday, handle the ball and play off one another.

“I’m just trying to encourage the speedy guys to be speedy either way,” Nurse said. “I think there’s a chance to push, push, push, push, but we don’t have to rush, and if we pushed ahead and we have some opportunities, we should take them, and then we’ll settle in. I think that’s probably my ideal version, if we can get to that.”