January 19, 2026
Eric Hartline/Imagn Images
Hours after being named an NBA All-Star Game starter for the first time, Tyrese Maxey did battle against one of the league's elite guard defenders in Andrew Nembhard.
PHILADELPHIA – Perhaps all the Sixers needed was a weekend of rest. They are like normal people in that way.
After a film session Saturday and an off day Sunday, the Sixers returned to action, hosting the Indiana Pacers on Monday night in the hopes of erasing the poor taste of their two straight home losses to the Cleveland Cavaliers last week. It took the Sixers a little while longer than they would have liked to get the job done, but they eventually came away with a 113-104 victory behind a balanced scoring attack.
Joel Embiid set the tone with 10 early points on perfect shooting, and Tyrese Maxey and Kelly Oubre Jr. backed him up to put the Sixers ahead. For nearly the entire second quarter the Sixers were lifeless offensively, but they flipped their usual script and found some life in the third quarter to pull back ahead. They did not let another disastrous fourth quarter ensue, and instead thoroughly outplayed Indiana for the final 12 minutes to handle their business.
Halfway through the 2025-26 season, the Sixers are 23-18. Takeaways from their latest victory:
The Sixers' spirited effort in the third quarter was much-needed; their offense was particularly horrid during a second quarter in which they only managed 17 points. They were taking too long to get into their stuff and far too often looked confused about what that stuff actually was. In the third quarter, Embiid found his groove again. After beginning the game with five mid-range makes, he went cold as a jump-shooter. So, Embiid began asserting himself in the paint, where an undersized Indiana frontcourt could not muster the strength to stop him.
Because Embiid played that entire third quarter – sometimes the Sixers abandon their rotation script and let him go when things are going well – the Sixers were going to need several minutes of quality basketball without him out there. They went to a unit of Maxey, Oubre, Quentin Grimes, Jabari Walker and Adem Bona (Maxey played the entire final frame and broke out of a bit of a funk; Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard is one of the best defensive pests in the NBA, but Maxey was able to shake free later in the game).
Defensive playmaking kept the Sixers in this game during their major offensive lulls, and it was what helped them create some separation in the fourth quarter. They turned over Indiana over and over, with tremendous ball pressure standing out as it has on many nights over the last few weeks. Maxey's leap as a defensive playmaker has been ridiculous, and he had three separate pick sixes in this game alone on his way to a career-high eight takeaways. He has become one of the best ball hawks in the NBA:
steal
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) January 20, 2026
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score pic.twitter.com/kZls361gU6
That aforementioned unit extended a one-point lead to six, and just as importantly ate up nearly seven minutes of action. Embiid and Edgecombe checked in, replacing Bona and Grimes, and within 90 seconds the Sixers were receiving a standing ovation. Embiid splashed a triple then scored inside, and as Indiana called a timeout to regroup, the Sixers had a 13-point lead.
They never looked back from there, comfortably putting the game away without any stress. It was a welcome change from their recent showings in fourth quarters.
Maxey is not a first-time All-Star, but earning a spot as a starter in the All-Star Game is a tremendous accomplishment. The 25-year-old who officially received that honor on Monday afternoon heard the news from one of his youngest teammates.
"2:00 p.m. is the time that I sleep, so I was asleep," Maxey said before the game. "VJ called me multiple times. I can hear my ringer going off and I'm like, 'Why is he calling me?' And I answer and he's screaming and showing me the TV... We chopped it up for a little bit and I was thankful for that. And then my mom called me and then I said, 'Listen, I'm going back to sleep. I have work tonight.'"
VJ Edgecombe is like many Sixers fans, enthralled that Maxey's rise from enticing young prospect to star in the making to lethal scorer has accelerated. He is respected as one of the very best players in the NBA. Did he think he would get to this point?
"The young version of Tyrese, like [as a] little kid, he believed it," Maxey said. "But it's still the NBA. You never know how things go. I'm just blessed, man. I've just worked extremely hard to get here and I'm thankful."
Predictably, Maxey credited his teammates, coaches and the Sixers organization for believing in him and empowering him to take on a vocal leadership role. That is where he said he feels he has grown the most during his career, even more than his defense.
"It's a hell of an honor," Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said before the game. "Top five guys in the conference, it's really a big honor. It's a historic thing. It's cool and I'm happy for him, man. He's been great. He had a great offseason and he's worked and he's played great. So I think it's amazing. Great to be a part of it."
MORE: Maxey reflects on the day his ascent from rookie to superstar began
Some additional notes:
• If the anecdote about Edgecombe calling Maxey repeatedly was not enough to quiet concerns about a semi-viral video that made the rounds over the weekend of the Sixers' two starting guards in a heated argument during Friday's loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, hopefully Nurse's pregame comments about that interaction will.
"I did see them conversing," Nurse said. "Listen, I know [with] both, who those guys are and their character and all that kind of stuff. They were doing it in a competitive, like, "Let's get it right" thing, for sure. Again, I think from my standpoint, I almost like it. And certainly not a big deal, but I almost like it that there was that much emotion going into – you know, [they allowed Donovan Mitchell's] first points in a game, and we obviously, in that game, we're trying to make his life really, really difficult, and that was the first time we let him get away. Those two guys are good."
• Speaking of Edgecombe, halfway into his rookie season he has come close but missed on many ambitious poster attempts at Xfinity Mobile Arena. He finally got one on Monday:
THE ROOK. 👋 pic.twitter.com/c9mzMbFpMI
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) January 20, 2026
• Why did the Sixers recall Jared McCain after one brutal G League showing? Nurse said the team needed as many bodies as it could get for their back-to-back. Did the Sixers consider keeping McCain with the Delaware Blue Coats as he tries to get back to himself?
"No. Not with this schedule," Nurse said before the game. "...We'll reconsider what we're going to do with him Wednesday or Thursday, after this double-header."
Nurse reiterated that he is "just trying to get him some minutes," arguing that McCain has not "had much of a runway to play consistently," but McCain was not on the floor on Monday until the game was put away with less than a minute remaining. It is the second game in a row he has not been in Nurse's rotation.
• Paul George was not available for the Sixers on Monday; he was ruled out two hours before tip-off due to left knee injury management. That is because...
Up next: The Sixers will be back in action on Tuesday night, completing this home back-to-back by hosting the Phoenix Suns.
