After an excellent October in which they went 6-1 to start the season, the Philadelphia 76ers were able to kick off November with a 126-107 win over the Chicago Bulls to move to 7-1.
The 76ers benefitted from a well-balanced performance in the contest, as all five starters for Philadelphia scored at least 15 points in the game for the first time this season. The Sixers are clearly still building chemistry with their new roster, but the fact that they’ve been able to win games in the process is a scary proposition for the rest of the league.
Here’s a look at three studs and one dud from Philadelphia’s win over Chicago.
Stud: VJ Edgecombe
VJ Edgecombe had his best performance of the season against Chicago, from a statistical perspective. He scored a season-high 21 points while knocking down nine of his 12 field goal attempts, including two of his four attempts from beyond the arc. He also added five assists, three rebounds, a steal and a block and was a team-high +31 in the game.
Edgecombe has done a lot of the little things for the Sixers so far this season as his role on offense has been minimized a bit due to all of the talent on the roster, so it was nice to see him come up with a big game scoring-wise. He’s not always going to be asked to score as much as he did against Chicago, but it’s great to know that he’s ready to do so when the opportunity presents itself.
Dud: Adem Bona
It’s been a tough start to the season for Adem Bona, and Monday night was another rough outing for the third-year center. Bona played 14 minutes in the game, and while he grabbed six rebounds, scored three points and blocked a shot, he also had five fouls, two turnovers and missed three of his four shots from the floor. The Sixers were outscored by eight points during his minutes.
It was the sixth time in eight games this season that the Sixers were outscored when Bona was on the floor, and if it weren’t for a lack of other options, he would likely already be out of Nick Nurse’s rotation.
Stud: Jaylen Brown
Jaylen Brown is still getting acclimated to his new role in Philadelphia, but he turned in an extremely productive performance against Chicago. He scored 25 points in the game while shooting an extremely efficient 9-of-15 from the floor and 4-of-7 from long range. He also snagged a season-high 11 rebounds and added five assists.
After the game, 76ers head coach Nick Nurse shared some high praise for Brown.
“The dude is tough and he wins, and I’ll take that all day long,” Nurse said of Brown. “…He makes a lot of winning plays, man. He’s a winner.”
Stud: Tyrese Maxey
It was just another day at the office for Tyrese Maxey, who led the Sixers with 26 points and 11 assists in the win over the Bulls. He was extremely efficient in the game, as he knocked down 10 of his 15 attempts from the field and five of his six attempts from the free throw line.
Through eight games, Maxey is third in the NBA in points per game, behind only Luka Doncic and Steph Curry. Maxey is actually averaging more points per game than he did last season and shooting a higher percentage from the field, even with all of the new additions around him in Philly. What Maxey’s done so far this season is special, and if he keeps it up and the Sixers keep winning, he’ll find himself in the MVP conversation.
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