Instant observations: VJ Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey dominate Knicks in Sixers win

Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe put together another dominant backcourt game in the Garden, combining for 62 points in a 130-119 Sixers victory over the New York Knicks. Joel Embiid chipped in 26-10-5 on 9/15 shooting, with Paul George offering some big plays of his own down the stretch.

The 76ers managed to close out a difficult road trip with three consecutive wins, and will finally get back to their home floor in a Monday meeting with the Denver Nuggets.

Here’s what I saw.

VJ Edgecombe is way too good

It is hard for 10-year veterans to guard Jalen Brunson, the man I would call the current king of grifting in the NBA. He’s a tremendously tough cover because of the intersection of skill and understanding of rules, with Brunson constantly baiting his man into reach-in fouls and overjumping sequences. Just when you think you have him walled off, he gets you leaning and puts himself on the free-throw line.

VJ Edgecombe is not like most guard defenders, and especially not like most rookie guard defenders. He was basically inside Brunson’s jersey for their matchups on-ball, but did an outstanding job of keeping his hands back and refusing to play the foul game with Brunson. Against almost every other Sixers player in the lineup, Brunson was cooking, and New York’s head of the snake managed to hit some tough shots against Edgecombe here and there. But every possession against Edgecombe felt like a massive struggle.

Edgecombe’s work on the defensive end was even more impressive as he carried a significant offensive burden for the Sixers in the first half. Playing in the same city where he made his name in high school, Edgecombe put on a show at Madison Square Garden, scoring 18 first-half points on 4/6 from beyond the arc and 7/10 from the field. It has been remarkable to watch his evolution happen so quickly on offense, his weaknesses fading quicker than anyone could have expected.

Pre-draft boosters of Edgecombe (myself included) were confident that he would eventually turn into a reliable catch-and-shoot threat, but that was easy money from his first NBA game. Saturday night, Edgecombe was getting into his pull-up bag as a shooter, canning a stepback from three toward the end of his first-half run that he would have lacked the temerity to attempt while at Baylor. His shooting progress has been nothing short of remarkable, opening up a path to stardom that didn’t look so clear even a few months ago.

This sort of rapid improvement is impossible to downplay — when a player can get markedly better in the middle of the season, it opens your mind to so many possibilities that can happen after they get in the gym for full offseasons. Will Edgecombe’s at-rim finishing, which also looks greatly improved for another consecutive game, eventually become a strength for the above-the-rim athlete? He is showing more patience and poise in pick-and-rolls, and did a good job of manipulating Knicks defenders at times on Saturday, baiting them to step up before moving the ball across the floor for better shots.

And then, of course, there’s the crunch time stuff. As the Knicks made their run early in the fourth quarter, it was a two-way sequence from Edgecombe that ultimately settled the game down for Philadelphia. He came up with an improbable block of Mikal Bridges on a corner three before taking the ball the other way and flushing it for two points of his own, prompting a New York timeout:

V.J. EDGECOMBE IS EVERYWHERE —

Block + Dunk. 🔥

pic.twitter.com/JiFwfnoN8T

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) January 4, 2026

Comparisons to prospects like Anthony Edwards felt far-fetched based on some of his college tape, and while he still has a long way to go to live up to name drops like Dwyane Wade, do you want to put a ceiling on what and who this kid can be right now? I sure don’t.

Ho hum, another monster Tyrese Maxey game

Edgecombe’s play has been so good in recent weeks that it is becoming easier to gloss over the ass-kicking campaign Tyrese Maxey is putting together. An 18-point half for Edgecombe is cause for celebration. A 16-point half for Maxey in the same 24-minute span is business as usual, the foundation the rest of this house is built on.

I feel delighted for Maxey that Embiid’s return to regular play has taken a bit of creative pressure off of Maxey. Sure, you still see some of the same downhill dominance from Maxey, flashes of lightning to score reverse layups against the Knicks as Brunson watches from 10 feet away. But the Sixers were able to get him going with some glorified practice shots in New York City, Embiid dragging defenders toward him or wiping them out with screens. Maxey has hardly needed much to get himself going this season, so gifting him clean looks from three early in a game feels almost like cheating, essentially guaranteeing that he can go off for another big game.

Lessening Maxey’s burden as a slasher and scorer has brought out some fierce stretches out of him as a rebounder, defender, and passer. He probably left a steal or two on the table in the first half, but was in position to make plays with consistently good reads off the ball and active hands in on-ball defense. The Knicks did not seem prepared for exactly how hard Maxey would compete on that end of the floor, caught off guard when he played pressure defense alongside Edgecombe to junk up their early offense.

The third quarter, Philadelphia’s trouble spot for the entire year, turned into a 12-minute showcase of Tyrese Maxey’s case for an All-NBA selection. The Knicks’ bigs weren’t exactly dying to play up to the level, and he buried New York with an avalanche of deep jumpers, including a logo three that sent gasps echoing through Madison Square Garden. New York was so fearful of Maxey at that point that they began flooding the backcourt to get it out of his hands, opening up the middle of the floor for Embiid to go to work. And when they didn’t trap him, Maxey made them regret the decision more often than not:

no caption needed.

…go vote: https://t.co/3YIQwQLcV1 🗳️⭐️ pic.twitter.com/v9MEXsYZHc

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) January 4, 2026

Deep into his heater in the fourth quarter, Maxey arguably had his best stretch of the game, tossing in one improbable stepback and fadeaway jumper after another, draining the spirit out of an always rowdy Garden crowd. Picking his battles, Maxey kept hunting for Jalen Brunson whenever possible, bullying New York’s offense-only guard on a few critical fourth-quarter possessions.

Pretty damn good. If I were to nitpick, his end-of-quarter execution really needs work, but it’s a small detail in a sea of dominant hoops.

Class is in session

Knicks fans do not have a heck of a lot of love for Joel Embiid after the playoff series battle in 2024. Mitchell Robinson’s injury in that series has been used for fuel for loud boos when Embiid is in New York, which the big man heard early and often in Saturday night’s game.

Unfortunately for Robinson, he gave Embiid a golden opportunity to neutralize one of New York’s big rebounding weapons in the first half. After climbing over Embiid’s back for a loose-ball foul in the first quarter, you knew it was only a matter of time before No. 21 was going to bait his man into a silly foul in the mid-post or around the basket. And we got both of those before the half was over, with Embiid putting Robinson on the pine with an early second foul in the first quarter and his third before the second was over. Tough break, buddy.

It was another night of excellent situational offense from the big man, who spent as much of his night playmaking and screen-setting as he did attacking the Knicks himself. As New York threw doubles and ball pressure at Philly in the third quarter to try to climb out of a big hole, Embiid played jumbo quarterback/release valve in the middle of the floor, with the guards passing out of pressure to Embiid before he hit a few beautiful drop-off passes to cutting forwards around the rim.

JABARI WALKER WITH THE JAM! pic.twitter.com/FdzONM28NA

— Liberty Ballers (@Liberty_Ballers) January 4, 2026

A highly effective and versatile outing for the big man.

Other notes

—You don’t want to pay over $50 million a season for transition defense, but I was absolutely delighted by Paul George’s commitment to that area of the game against New York. It’s the exact thing that drove you crazy with Tobias Harris. A third option’s scoring success is going to come and go based on opportunity throughout a long season, but their commitment to the little things can be the difference between winning and losing. George’s offensive contributions were subdued for much of Saturday’s game, but he kept popping up with defensive effort all over the floor, which buys him a bit more grace from me.

Down the stretch, he had two huge possessions of different kinds — George hit a big wing three to keep the Sixers well out in front, and then came up with the game-sealing offensive rebound, dropping it off to Quentin Grimes to put the game away.