PHILADELPHIA — It all took a split second to register for Tyrese Maxey.
But once he came to his senses, the star guard for the Philadelphia 76ers realized that the Golden State Warriors were without a timeout. Then, he turned and looked at the basket and realized rookie guard V.J. Edgecombe had made the play of the night.
“Oh, my goodness,” Maxey said to himself. “V.J. made that.”
“That” was the eventual game-winning shot that eventually gave the 76ers a 99-98 win over Golden State in what was a wild ending Thursday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena. But “that” didn’t become possible until Maxey missed a potential game-winner. That initial shot was partially blocked by Warriors and former Sixers guard De’Anthony Melton. And the momentum of the shot caused Maxey to land in the confines of the Philadelphia bench.
When Edgecombe came out of nowhere for the offensive rebound and layup, Warriors guard Buddy Hield rushed to get the ball in bounds with 0.9 seconds remaining. He saw a streaking Melton, who was now by himself, and hit him with a sensational pass that should have resulted in an open layup and a Golden State win. But Maxey — exhausted after 40 minutes and 35 points — sprinted the floor, tracked Melton down and blocked his shot against the glass as the buzzer sounded.
THIS SEQUENCE!
ARE YOU KIDDING ME. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/qwMMbj796R
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) December 5, 2025
A sellout crowd simultaneously celebrated and let out a sigh of relief. A Sixers bench ran as fast as it could to embrace Maxey and Edgecombe. There were two heroes for the 76ers on Thursday. There were two players who made split-second decisions that allowed the Sixers to escape with a win in the moments where a loss felt almost inevitable.
“Honestly, I just ran back as fast as I could, because I wanted to try and make a play that would help us win the game,” Maxey said. “I saw V.J. had scored, so I wanted to get back and make a play on the ball.”
It was an ending befitting of the unpredictable nature of the game. There was Philadelphia playing one of its best halves of basketball of the season and building a 24-point lead over a Golden State team that looked lifeless. There was Warriors head coach Steve Kerr substituting like a madman, until he found a lineup that worked. There was Pat Spencer coming off the Golden State bench to lead an improbable comeback, making shot after shot, and talking recklessly to Philly fans in the process. There was the dread inside the arena as the Sixers fans realized the Warriors were on the verge of erasing an entire lead.
And then, there was Golden State leading by four points inside the last minute of the game, putting the 76ers on the brink of an embarrassing defeat. And it should be noted that the Warriors accomplished all of this without superstar guard Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, and with Draymond Green exiting the game in the first half with a foot injury.
At the beginning of the season, Maxey promised that this 76ers team would be resilient, and that’s what happened yet again on Thursday. To be clear, this Philadelphia team hasn’t been nearly perfect this season. There are some real issues it needs to fix. But nobody can take away how tough this team has been. And nobody can take away how resilient this team has been. If Maxey is the best thing going in Sixerland at the moment, those other two attributes rank as honorable mentions.
It’s why nobody should be shocked that Philadelphia fought back. There was Quentin Grimes breathing some life into a dead building with a three-point play to cut the deficit to a single point. There was Edgecombe forcing a turnover on a Golden State inbound play to give Philadelphia possession. That set up Edgecombe’s heroics and then Maxey’s game-saving blocked shot.
What made Edgecombe’s two plays more remarkable is that he wasn’t playing well on the aggregate. In fact, his five turnovers are a reason he only played 24 minutes. But, as he has done several times this season, and which is remarkable for a rookie, he made the plays that matter when they matter. He has, on multiple occasions, shaken off bad overall games to make highly important plays in important moments.
“One doesn’t matter without the other,” Philadelphia head coach Nick Nurse said. “I thought V.J.’s putback was big, but that’s … that’s a highlight for a while by Tyrese. I thought both plays showed a good presence of mind by everyone. Even though he was double-teamed, I’m glad Tyrese still took the shot. He’s our guy, we need him to take that shot. I’m glad everybody crashed the glass like they were supposed to. We just watched the film. We had three guys getting back in a dead sprint to make that play. It was a great play by them to get the ball out so quickly. But, it was a better play by us.”
More than anything, we are 21 games in, and the Sixers are still trying to figure out how to deal with all of their rotating parts, and having so many different guys in and out of the lineup. It’s one of the reasons why Nurse didn’t criticize his team for actually losing the 24-point lead.
Star center Joel Embiid played Thursday. But, with a 25-minute limit on his availability, and with Embiid rightfully not wanting to sit too long and cool down, all of his minutes were used by the fourth quarter. So, when the Warriors were rallying, Embiid was unavailable.
There was no Paul George, who is expected to play on the road against the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night. Kelly Oubre and Trendon Watford remained out. It means the Sixers have been playing every night with different players available. The lack of continuity has made catching a rhythm through multiple games difficult. And it’s made the Sixers prone to having moments of brilliance masked with moments of looking lost … all in the same game.
The best of Philadelphia in the first half showed a Sixers team moving the ball and defending at a high level. It showed how well Maxey and Embiid play together when they run pick-and-roll with each other. And, it showed how good they can be on both ends of the floor. The good thing is that Philadelphia can tap into that, without having to also deal with a soul-crushing defeat.
“I think we’re still learning how to play with one another, but we see how good we can be,” Embiid said. “It’s just about continuing to do the right things and continuing to work. But, you can see that we’re making progress and we’re getting closer to where we want to be.”