Game of the year?
Sixers Bell Ringer regular season standings:
Joel Embiid: 21
Tyrese Maxey: 9
Seth Curry: 8
Tobias Harris: 4
Andre Drummond: 3
Matisse Thybulle: 2
Furkan Korkmaz: 1
Charles Bassey: 1
Joel Embiid didn’t suit up tonight, so someone else will be grabbing the Bell Ringer mantle after his 36-12-6 outing on Saturday against the Kings.
There are some great options here after the Sixers pulled out a 122-119 Monday night overtime win against an upstart Grizzlies squad. That goes down as one of my favorite Sixers regular season games in recent memory. Two dynamic point guards trying to one-up each other with wild highlights. A back-and-forth contest that came down to the final seconds in regulation and OT. What a blast. Doing all of that with the big fella resting and regrouping only makes it sweeter.
Ring that bell…
Tyrese Maxey: 33 points, 3 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal, 4 blocks
With Embiid resting, Maxey took up the mantle of the Sixers’ best player and didn’t disappoint. While dueling rising superstar Ja Morant in a killer matchup of young point guards, Maxey held his own against the All-Star starter. He ran the break, pulled up off the dribble unconsciously, created easy buckets for the teammates, was pesky as hell on defense and showcased that beautiful floater.
HOW ABOUT THAT EXCLAMATION POINT FINISH LAYUP TOO?
A career-high four blocks from him!
THIS DUDE.
Tobias Harris: 31 points, five rebounds, five assists, 2 blocks
Look, we all have our feelings on Tobias. If he puts up that stat line in a win against a legitimately good team, especially with Embiid out and him shouldering even more of the load than usual, I can’t say a bad word about the man.
Isaiah Joe: 10 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal
Joe hit two four-point plays in a two-minute span. If you’re voting for Bell Ringer for a singular awesome turn of events, it’s one of the cooler things I’ve seen a Sixers player do? That likely says more about the Sixers teams of the past two decades than Joe’s pure accomplishment, but still, the dude continues to let Sixers fans know why he needs consistent minutes.
Andre Drummond: 16 points, 23 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks
Whenever Embiid’s sat this season, I’ve been tempted to put in a Drummond triple-double same-game parlay. Drummond’s unheralded playmaking and standing as one of those greatest rebounders in league history (he has the highest rebounding rate of all time!) leave him as Embiid’s best backup over the last few years. This Sixers team has sucked on the glass this season, but Drummond helps that case whenever he sees the floor. He was so active on D too. I think I love him?
Matisse Thybulle: 5 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block
Thybulle was the mongoose to Morant’s rattlesnake. Looking at Morant’s stat line (37-5-5), you might not think Thybulle did much, but just imagine how outrageous Morant’s numbers would’ve been if there was a lesser defender than Thybulle out there. The reality is that almost everyone on the planet is a lesser defender than Thybulle though. Thybulle was great on Morant in overtime, where things mattered most, and that heads-up play on the Grizzlies’ final possession to launch the ball to the other end of the court to allow time to expire illustrates a pretty damn high basketball IQ.