Instant observations: Joel Embiid drops 40 points in Sixers win over Pelicans

Joel Embiid dropped 40 points and 11 rebounds in a 124-114 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, shaking off a tough middle portion of the game to dominate the stretch run. He may be back, ladies and gentlemen.

Here’s what I saw.

Just enough from the big guy

It took two possessions of the game to learn if Joel Embiid was going to take a matchup against rookie big Derik Queen a little personally. He got his younger counterpart isolated on the right block, drove right at his chest, missed the ensuing layup, and then tipped in the offensive rebound as if Queen wasn’t even there. Early on, Queen returned fire just enough to keep things close, handling the ball on the break and knocking down a long two for some of his early points.

But Embiid was not going to be denied in this one. Despite New Orleans shrinking the floor around him and sending frequent doubles, the Sixers did well to consistently manufacture space and one-on-one opportunities for the big man, shifting their spacing around if the Pelicans tried to adjust their coverage. They’ve done an increasingly better job of finding Embiid the second an opponent thinks they’re clear to switch a ball screen to prevent one of their guards from turning the corner. Jeremiah Fears briefly got stuck on Embiid on one first-half possession, VJ Edgecombe hit him with the ball right as the Pelicans tried to scram the action, and it was too late, with Embiid ripping through and drawing a foul for a pair of easy free throws.

Searching for new answers with Paul George absent, Adem Bona got an opportunity to play “big ball” minutes next to Embiid at the end of the first half, and that continues to be a look with some intrigue. Embiid and Bona had another moment where they essentially combined for a block at the rim, moments before Bona had one of the most hilarious missed layups in history on the other end. With Embiid’s mobility still a work in progress on defense, adding a layer of weakside rim protection and switchability alongside him has real merit.

On the totals and given the score of the game at halftime, you could certainly argue that rolling heavy on post offense was the way to go. But Embiid had sputtered through a good chunk of Saturday’s first half, missing out on a couple of 50/50 calls for fouls and otherwise just clanging jumpers. Nick Nurse has often said that the sign of Embiid’s best health is when he drives the ball frequently, and this felt like a low-volume night in that department, with Embiid settling for a lot of tough twos that he couldn’t get to drop.

Ball security was a frequent issue, too, with Embiid giving away some absolutely heinous turnovers. Bad passes out of the post, sloppy handle, it was the full arsenal of frustrating Embiid moments. Generally, there was a little too much of Embiid at the expense of good offense, either for himself or others, so when they needed others to help out as the game wore on, it was hard to be mad that the well ran dry. We are likely to see a lot more of the Embiid-centric offense in the weeks ahead, with one less big name available and the pecking order locked in at the top, and that can’t be an excuse to just turn it into the Iso Jo show.

But in the end, Embiid had just enough left in the tank (and just enough of a matchup advantage) to take these guys home down the stretch. It’s still a pretty good option to hand it over to the seven-foot midrange killer, it turns out, as even a bad possession can end with him shooting over well-played defense. The Pelicans decided against sending much help when it mattered most, and that led to a jumpshot clinic from Embiid, who put the game away.

40 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists ain’t a bad night of work, particularly for a guy who didn’t have his best stuff.

More guards, Nick!

Tyrese Maxey has had a hell of a season and has worked hard to make himself less of a target on the defensive end of the floor. He has been a genuine passing lane weapon, often sparking runs with little help from his teammates. But he has skewed way too far on the gambling side of the spectrum in recent weeks, leaving his man with no reward to show for it.

Early in this one, Maxey was a disaster on the defensive end, running away from shooters one pass away to offer “help” on drivers going middle. He set Trey Murphy up for his only made three of the first half and was never in any danger of breaking up the play in the first place. The Pelicans took advantage of him with some back cuts and off-ball movement, too, with Murphy slamming one on a backdoor read and Saddiq Bey running right past him for a transition bucket. He was a frequent target, helping the Pelicans stay in the game far longer than they should have been able to.

I have a lot more sympathy for his plight on offense, where he looks great with Embiid on the floor and has to work insanely hard without him because of the domino effect of George’s suspension. The Pelicans threw out a box-and-one at the Sixers in the first half as they turned to a Bona/Barlow/Oubre combo at 3-5, with New Orleans basically daring someone other than Maxey to beat them. It certainly looks like the Sixers need to lean heavy offense in those minutes and just pray they can beat teams with a run-and-gun style, which will require more minutes for Jared McCain.

Speaking of McCain, this was probably his most consequential performance of 2026, building off of two solid outings last week with a nice game they desparately needed to win on Saturday. He had a very solid shift in the first half, knocking down a pair of threes and grabbing an offensive rebound, and he played a critical stretch to open the fourth alongside Edgecombe in the backcourt. With Embiid struggling to open the quarter, the Sixers needed to find shotmaking from someone else, and in stepped the second-year guard, banging a three out of a dribble handoff before hitting another big one moments later, preserving the slim lead Philly still had left.

Thanks to that strong start, McCain had the opportunity to play alongside Maxey and Edgecombe in important late-game minutes, and he held his own there.

VJ Dimes

VJ Edgecombe was far less involved as a scorer than I would have expected in their first game of the Paul George suspension stretch. Trendon Watford justified getting his on-ball touches with a good first stint, but I was kinda shocked at how much time Edgecombe spent wasting away in the corners with the Sixers in need of a creative spark.

That said, this was an outstanding passing game for Edgecombe, who did an outstanding job of manipulating the game and drawing pressure before moving the ball back into open space. Operating out of ball screens, he did a great job of applying pressure on the paint while scanning the floor, finding four or five different cutters sliding along the baseline for layup opportunities. This could have easily been a double-digit assist game for Edgecombe if he got the shooting support to match his passing quality, but alas.

In any case, he still managed to put some highlights like these on tape, and his passing was as productive as it was pretty:

the pass. 🤌

the triple. 🤌 pic.twitter.com/VEnsH83CME

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) February 1, 2026

For me, the future is Edgecombe attacking the floor in spread pick-and-rolls with shooters (Maxey included) spread around the floor. They do not necessarily have the personnel to succeed in that style right now, but give it some time.

Other notes

— Good Kelly Oubre game as a secondary scorer.

— The Pelicans sound prepared to move Yves Missi, and I would take him on the Sixers in a heartbeat if they let him go at a discounted rate. An outrageous athlete who plays hard and is a bit more trustworthy on either end than Adem Bona. Make the call, Daryl.

I may be at the end of my rope with Bona, who made three of the silliest decisions as a ballhandler of the season in the span of three quarters. Your job is not to go coast-to-coast with the ball, my man.

— I think I may be lower on Trendon Watford for this team than anyone else who regularly watches the Sixers, because I think the Sixers lean entirely too hard on his ballhandling whenever he’s in the game. Having him available as a secondary creator is perfectly fine and even encouraged, but in no world am I handing him the ball and calling him de facto point guard for stretches of the game like they did on Saturday.

You have a team loaded with guards, use them and their guard skills!