Sixers Bell Ringer: Sixers pause trade deadline talk long enough to beat Mavericks

With trade winds blowing, the Philadelphia 76ers held on for a last-second win over Dallas.

Sixers Bell Ringer Season Standings:
Tyrese Maxey – 13
Jared McCain – 8
Joel Embiid – 7
Paul George – 7
Guerschon Yabusele – 4
Kelly Oubre Jr – 2
Ricky Council IV – 2
KJ Martin – 2
Justin Edwards – 2
Adem Bona – 1

It was a strange night for an NBA basketball game, with Caleb Martin told to get much better acquainted with the opposition, and KJ Martin sent home before the game, lest he do something to jeopardize an upcoming physical. Even stranger, Joel Embiid played! Meanwhile, Anthony Davis was sitting on the bench for Dallas, and you feel bad for him as the first thing people will associate with him now is being the other side of arguably the dumbest trade in NBA history. So weird vibes all around.

On the court, the Sixers looked to have traded away their concept of team defense for most of the night, but they did just enough down the stretch to hold on for the 118-116 win. Let’s look at who shined for Philadelphia with tonight’s Bell Ringer nominees.

Tyrese Maxey: 33 points, 4 rebounds, 13 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers

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Make it 15 straight games with at least 25 points for Maxey, and six straight 30-point games, who is in the midst of the best stretch of his career. Tyrese came out guns blazing with 11 points and five assists in the first quarter. A reverse lay-in towards the end of the period under and around two Mavericks defenders was absolutely absurd. All game long, he shifted gears and pinballed around to create space for floaters or banks in off the glass. Maxey seemed perfectly in control and racked up big numbers in a game when he wasn’t even scorching hot from the outside. Oh, and he had 13 assists, and while many were a generous stat compilation of ‘shovel it to Embiid and let him go to work’, Tyrese also had some advanced drive-and-kicks to guys like Ricky Council IV and Justin Edwards. This sort of game is just standard operating procedure for Maxey now, which is tremendous.

Joel Embiid: 29 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, 1 steal, 5 turnovers

Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images

Joel Embiid hadn’t played an NBA game in a month and then scored the Sixers’ first points on one of his patented baseline turnaround jumpers that only about a half dozen players in NBA history could hit on a consistent basis. He didn’t look rusty at all in going 3-of-3 from the field for seven points in the first quarter, then finishing with 18 points at halftime. All evening, he unlocked offensive opportunities for Maxey and Guerschon Yabusele, eventually tallying his first triple-double of the season. He made a handful of winning plays in crunch time. First, he made the go-ahead bucket on the interior with 22 seconds left, then he secured a tough rebound in traffic on the other end following a Mavericks miss, and he was involved in the defensive stop on Dallas’ final possession. Embiid has already been ruled out for Wednesday night against Miami on the second night of a back-to-back, but we’ll look for plenty more performance going forward like what we saw here against the Mavericks.

Guerschon Yabusele: 19 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 turnover

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We got to see Yabu as the starting four next to Joel Embiid tonight and it was beautiful. Guerschon went a perfect 7-of-7 from inside the arc, with his only miss on the night a three-point attempt. He and Joel had a sweet high-low game going, with Yabusele using his burly frame to carve out space on the interior for some tough finishes at the hoop. In all, Embiid assisted Yabusele five times in the restricted area. Then, Guerschon made two game-winning plays in the final 30 seconds. First, he returned the favor to Joel with a great entry pass on Embiid’s go-ahead bucket. Then, Yabu played stout defense on Naji Marshall to force a miss and preserve the lead with 15 seconds left. Keep this man a Sixer, Daryl.

Justin Edwards: 16 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

Edwards played his role to perfection tonight, shooting 4-of-9 from three and playing within the flow of the action on both ends of the court. He saved the game, in my opinion, with his block of Naji Marshall inside the final minute. Maxey had turned it over and it looked like an easy transition bucket for Dallas to stretch their lead to three points. Instead, Edwards hustled back and somehow got in position to not only prevent an easy layup, but make the block and have the ball go back in the other direction. The Sixers would retake the lead for good on the next possession. It’s a matter of when, not if, Philadelphia will convert Edwards from a two-way to a standard NBA contract.