Edgecombe struggles early but finds groove in second half to lead Sixers to win

VJ Edgecombe was scoreless in the first half but dropped 15 points and stuffed the stat sheet in the second half to lead the Sixers over the Wizards in Vegas.

Well, that was a game and they won it, that’s for sure.

With VJ Edgecombe back in the lineup, the Sixers beat the Washington Wizards 74-58 Tuesday night to improve to 1-2 in Vegas.

Thanks to a late three-point surge, Justin Edwards led the Sixers with 17 points along with eight boards. He shot 5-of-14 from the field, all of those makes coming from behind the arc.

With his college coach Bruce Pearle in attendance, Johni Broome impressed with 14 points along with 10 rebounds. He went 5-of-11 from the field.

Edgecombe, who got off to a pretty slow start, finished with 15 points on 4-of-14 shooting. He also went for six rebounds, four assists and three steals.

AJ Johnson led all scorers with 20. Tre Johnson was out for Washington due to hamstring tightness.

Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.

Edgecombe was unable to buy a basket to start this game, missing his first seven shots. It was hard to tell if there were any lingering effects from his wrist injury, because the Wizards might have gotten away with a couple fouls. He still didn’t get on the board until the second half. His first field goal was a struggle, guiding a dunk attempt off the rim.

It was still fun to see his athleticism out there. That alone was able to stabilize better than any other guard on the team at points. He nearly got on the board with another poster dunk, but had to settle for the trip to the line.

He continued to create good looks for himself at the basket, most of them continued to results in fouls though rather than made baskets. He finally got another layup to go after a nifty move, and hit a three moments later that put the game away in the fourth.

It wasn’t nearly as flashy as his debut in Utah, but there were still plenty of positives for Edgecombe’s first game back after missing the previous four.

While the rest of the backcourt play was peak summer league sloppy, the other Sixers’ draft pick from this year had his best pro game so far.

Broome looked really good coming out of dribble hand-offs attacking switches. For large stretches of the game, the ball was safest when it was in his hands, and he got some chances to make important decision with the ball. This dump off to Adem Bona was somehow his lone assist of the night.

Bona was certainly part of the sloppiness at the beginning of the game. He finished with four turnovers. He was really solid defensively though, and was able to get the ball in the basket when it found him again. His second go around at summer league has certainly been more reassuring than that of Edwards.

The summer Sixers will be right back at it taking on the Dallas Mavericks Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET. You can catch it on ESPN and NBC Sports Philadelphia.