PHILADELPHIA – The Sixers have had plenty of encouraging victories in 2025-26, but their triumph over the Houston Rockets on Thursday night is among the most convincing victories of their regular season to date.

The Sixers got Joel Embiid and Paul George back after both were absent in Tuesday's loss to the Phoenix Suns, and their two highest-paid players were needed against Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets. Against a wing-heavy Houston team, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse made a change to a starting lineup that had been working quite well. The results were mixed with his new opening unit, but after a shaky opening stretch the Sixers just about went wire to wire as the better team.

Maxey shook off another shaky start and submitted a strong two-way effort, while Embiid was a dominant offensive force all night long and Kelly Oubre Jr. had another scoring outburst. The Sixers might have been in a vulnerable position defensively, but their effort on that end of the floor picked up as the game went on.

The Sixers led by two points entering the fourth quarter, but Houston posted a 9-2 run at the end of a third quarter and picked up where they left off early on in the fourth, forcing a Nurse timeout with a 10-4 run that put them ahead by four points with eight minutes left. That lead was extended to eight points with five minutes left, when Embiid and Maxey led a spirited push that knotted the game up. Durant put Houston back in front before an excellent defensive play from George sprung Maxey for a game-tying basket.

One stop later, the Sixers had a chance to win the game. Nurse got Maxey going downhill, and the All-Star starter appeared to score the game-winning basket by forcing a goaltending violation. But the officials missed it, and so the Sixers had to head to overtime:

The Sixers are 24-19. Takeaways from a strong 128-122 win:

Nick Nurse changes his starting lineup

When the Sixers' shootaround was opened to media on Thursday morning, Oubre had a blue practice jersey draped over his shoulder. For the first time in two months, meanwhile, Dominick Barlow got up shots while donning a grey jersey. 

What does that mean? When the Sixers hold a practice or a shootaround, their first unit wears blue, while reserves are in grey. This seemed to foreshadow that Barlow, who had started in 29 of his 32 appearances this season and had not come off the bench since Nov. 23, would be replaced with Oubre in the starting lineup to give the Sixers more space, offensive firepower and perimeter defense against a wing-heavy Rockets team. And, 30 minutes before tip-off, that speculation was confirmed when Oubre, coming off back-to-back strong outings, was in the starting lineup over Barlow.

For the third game in a row, Oubre set the tone for the Sixers offensively, scoring eight points before five minutes had elapsed. The Sixers had more room to operate offensively, which the veteran swingman was the beneficiary of early. His red-hot shooting and scoring continued; Oubre entered intermission with 16 points, doing it on only eight shot attempts.

Oubre's scoring surge continued into the second half, and there is no detracting from his individual excellence on Thursday. But even if it meant George sitting instead of Oubre, the Sixers' best minutes in this game did come when Barlow was out there next to Embiid.

Against a rather large Rockets team, the Sixers did not have any imposing interior forces outside of Embiid in their opening lineup, and Embiid's limited mobility remains an issue defensively. Houston thrived offensively in the game's opening stint, taking quick command of the game with 22 points in seven minutes and change against the Sixers' starting five before Barlow checked in. The Sixers spent the rest of the first half with a traditional power forward in the game – in part because George found himself in foul trouble – and their defense stabilized.

Oubre, who was playing terrific basketball as one of the highest-minute starters in the NBA early in the season, has been a high-minute reserve with some spot starts due to injury since he came back from a sprained LCL in his left knee. Barlow and Embiid had developed a terrific dynamic on both ends of the floor, and with George back in the fold Nurse did not see any reason to make a change. But he has indicated lately that, with his team at full strength for the first time in over two years, he would like to be able to make starting lineup decisions with a bit more fluidity.

Playing the matchups with your fifth starter is not an uncommon practice around the league. Time will tell if Nurse was making a permanent switch to Oubre or beginning to implement a platoon of sorts at the second forward spot next to George.

Joel Embiid's 70-point game, two years later

On Jan. 22, 2023, Embiid scored 70 points against a rookie Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs. It was the ultimate representation of what was, at the time, a complete mastery of basketball:

Embiid had grown unstoppable, following up his NBA MVP season with a much stronger campaign – until, a few games later, Embiid suffered a torn meniscus. A whole lot has happened since.

"I just remember he just kept scoring," Nurse said before Thursday's game. "...It was pretty cool and it's absolutely the highest-scoring [game] I've ever been a part of, for sure, by a long shot."

The two years since have been the most difficult of Embiid's playing career in the NBA, from the meniscus tear to him battling significant pain in a high-intensity playoff series to only appearing in 19 games last season and needing another surgery. Embiid has made significant progress over the last month, both in terms of performance and availability, but remains a far cry from his best self.

"It's tough. It sucks for him," Rockets head coach Ime Udoka, who was close with Embiid during one year as a Sixers assistant coach, said. Udoka credited Embiid's work ethic and pointed out that stars who often miss games can be perceived as lackadaisical workers when the opposite is often true. Udoka, who also cited his experience coaching Kawhi Leonard, called it "a 24-hour thing around the clock to just get your body ready to play," and said "it sucks for him knowing the dominant player that he is and the skillset he has."

Embiid is the first to acknowledge he has a long way to go before he reaches the heights he briefly got to two years ago. Nurse agrees. The fact that Embiid moved better and played better on Thursday than he has in any game since his meniscus tear and dominated in 45 minutes of action is, of course, incredibly encouraging.

"He was probably playing his best basketball of his life at that point," Nurse said. "And obviously, [injuries have] certainly changed the course of our team and his career since then. And we're still in the process of trying to work him back up from there, and I think we're making progress on that now. I think he's looking and playing better all the time, so just keep that going."

Odds and ends

Some additional notes:

• Adem Bona almost certainly had this game scheduled on his calendar, as he has spent many years teaming with Rockets star Alperen Şengün in international play for Turkey. They won silver in EuroBasket over the summer, which Bona believed was a tremendously valuable experience before his second NBA season.

• So did Jabari Walker, who expressed after shootaround that he was eager to defend Durant, a player he has looked up to. Walker has a good relationship with Durant, he said; they share a trainer and work out together during the offseason. Walker likes to test himself against the game's elite players. Also...

“If you play good defense,” Walker said, “he’ll compliment you. That’s a rare thing. So it makes you want to play even harder so you get that compliment.”

Up next: The Sixers' six-game stretch of home contests will come to an end on Saturday when they play host to the New York Knicks.