Instant observations: Sixers win OT thriller over Rockets behind Embiid and Maxey

Tyrese Maxey was the clutch man down the stretch in a heart-stopping 128-122 win for the Sixers over the Rockets, shaking off a bad shooting night from deep to drive Philly in crunch time. Joel Embiid poured in a 32-point triple-double in nearly 47 minutes of action, and the 76ers shook off some late-game officiating shenanigans to steal the win.

Here’s what I saw.

Exploiting the mismatches

After a long run with Dominick Barlow in the starting lineup, the Sixers finally went to a heavier wing look on Thursday, opening with Kelly Oubre and Paul George at the 3/4 spots and the usual starters around them. I think there was one major difference you could see with Oubre on the floor: Houston guarded him on the perimeter. Compared to the 8-10 feet of space Barlow is given in the corners, Oubre commands respect, which changes the geometry of the court.

With Houston freely switching most screens throughout the night, the Sixers figured out early that they could get Joel Embiid a mismatch with a single pindown screen. They hammered that throughout the game, lining Embiid up against everyone from Kevin Durant to Amen Thompson to Josh Okogie. Outside of a leaning jumper against the last name in that list, deposited from around the free-throw line, I thought Embiid played some of the most powerful post offense of the season. Credit to the Rockets for trying to match strength with strength, but Embiid was in a mood to swing the sledgehammer, driving himself deep into the paint against players ill-equipped to keep him from the rim.

But this was far from a tunnel vision game for Embiid, who also absorbed pressure and fired passes out of doubles for open threes. Tyrese Maxey’s inability to hit an open three has been a huge weight on their offense over the last week, sinking a lot of quality possessions, but Embiid sought passing opportunities all over the floor to compensate. His high-low connection with Dominick Barlow nets at least a shot at the rim per game, and he has deep trust in Oubre as either a corner shooter or baseline cutter, setting up his red-haired friend for quality looks whenever they share the floor together.

Perhaps the best indicator of Embiid’s improved health and mobility came on the glass — the big man had 11 rebounds at the six-minute mark of the third quarter, only the second time he has eclipsed 10 rebounds in a game this season. And his possession enders came on all sorts of plays, including loose balls he sprinted to in traffic and contested, mid-air rips that he drew a foul or two on. When he is able to clean the glass to this extent, it sparks their transition game and prevents some of the worst threes that they give up, the wide-open trail shots that flow out of broken second-chance plays.

A roller coaster ride for Maxey

Someday, Tyrese Maxey will make open threes again. It has been tough watching him during this recent midseason swoon, because he is giving away points on shots I’d almost expect him to make blindfolded. He opened the game 2/8 from the field and 1/6 from three, as fans surely wondered if this could turn into an extended funk that goes through the All-Star break.

Working the two-man game with Embiid, Maxey was able to get a layup or two to drop as the second quarter wore on. You have to imagine his adrenaline went into overdrive when he somehow finished a nasty transition poster, which I was stunned wasn’t ruled an and-one. In any case, with another dunk before halftime and a seven-point lead, Maxey seemed firmly in the game.

It never really turned for him as a shooter, and on open threes throughout the second half, he could only find iron when the ball swung his way with a chance to hit a big shot and change the direction of the game. 2/10 from three through regulation was arguably the decisive factor in this game, even with the other contributions Maxey offered as a playmaker and transition attacker. Give Maxey those exact same shots again, and I’m expecting him to make probably six or seven, which speaks to the funk he is in from deep.

But in the guts of the game, as Marc Zumoff used to say, none of that stuff mattered. The Sixers opened the floor for Maxey in an attempt to leverage his speed, and he was dynamite, beating Houston to the rim over and over again. It was nothing more than Maxey rocking a defender one way and exploding to the basket, and the Rockets could do nothing except pray that help was coming. Even when it did, it did so illegally — Maxey was goaltended on what should have been the winning layup in regulation, with Maxey beating everybody to the goal before Durant illegally pinned his shot on the glass.

No matter. Maxey had more in store for the overtime session, ultimately leading Philadelphia to one of their best wins of the year.

Oubre brings a ton of dawg

The fun thing about Kelly Oubre is that you just never have to think about his shooting percentages. He is not a good shooter on the percentages, but there is never any doubt in his mind that the next shot he takes is going in. And every so often, you combine that relentless confidence with a heater from deep, and he becomes a player far more valuable than he has any right to be.

Defensively, he has been the guy most likely to bring the hard hat for the better part of two years, and he turned in some rip-roaring possessions against Alperen Sengun in the second half of Thursday’s game. He had a possession where he stonewalled Sengun or deflected the ball away from him, probably three or four different times, batting the ball out of bounds twice to the delight of the home crowd. When the possession ended with a Sengun miss, the fans squealed with delight, offering him a big ovation when he hit a transition three moments later.

A dose of Trendon Watford

I have not been especially enamored with Trendon Watford this year, but we have hardly been able to get to know him with how often he has been injured. Thursday showed the case for playing him even more, with Watford playing some of his best two-way hoops since joining the Sixers.

Watford was only called into action because of foul trouble for Paul George, who picked up three early ones and sat for the bulk of the second quarter. Playing as a nominal three, Watford had a lot more switching responsibility on defense and held firm on several big possessions, including an end-of-half sequence where he stonewalled Durant to set up a Tyrese Maxey steal and slam to close out the second. In many of his minutes this year, Watford has felt disconnected from the plan and his teammates, so seeing him act on a string with Dominick Barlow and others shows that perhaps he just needs time to gain chemistry with the group.

Offensively, there’s no doubting what he can do. He was a grab-and-go threat who kick-started multiple fast breaks, and a hunter when the Rockets handed him a smaller mismatch like Reed Sheppard. His ability to manipulate defenders with his herky-jerk style and eyes was on display when Quentin Grimes dunked one on a back cut after Watford dropped it to him in the perfect spot.

What’s the right amount of Watford? I’m honestly not sure, but he’s got enough offensive juice that they should continue searching for that answer.

Other notes

— Perhaps the most striking thing about this game was the gap between a 37-year-old Kevin Durant and a 35-year-old Paul George. Durant was the man through whom all things flowed for Houston, with the Sixers throwing soft doubles, traps, and shading of all kinds at KD to get the ball out of his hands whenever possible. PG made plenty of effort plays down the stretch, but he was hardly in the game by comparison.

But George was arguably the better man in OT, so I guess the advantage goes to George.

— VJ Edgecombe’s energy in overtime was much needed, but this was not the time to go for the poster dunk, my friend.

— Is Nick Nurse finally going to embrace staggering Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey? The head coach has been resistant to sub the game that way, anchoring a lot of Embiid’s minutes to No. 0, but with Embiid in good shape and the rotation beginning to settle, it looks like this may finally happen. And instead of bleeding points and praying that a rookie and Paul George can carry them, the Sixers may be able to get Maxey rest and build more chemistry with three of their other core players.

Given the results in Thursday’s game, I’m not sure it’s going to stick. Embiid-led lineups mostly cruised to no one’s surprise, but with Maxey on the floor with the likes of Bona, Barlow, and other non-shooters, the Sixers got pummeled thanks to their lack of offensive creativity. In theory, that should be where Quentin Grimes comes in to help, but he had yet another miserable game with poor decision-making on both ends of the floor.

On that subject, has Grimes ever read a scouting report with Reed Sheppard on it? Do you think you might want to go over screens or even just guard a guy who basically shot 50 percent from three in college? A 41 percent shooter just walked into open threes

— Clint Capela was a fine enough third big for the Rockets and was once a dynamic pick-and-roll player, but boy, he looks cooked. The Steven Adams injury might be a bigger deal than people think, with the Rockets battling for positioning in a crowded Western Conference.

— Watching Adem Bona play in high-stakes minutes, I would be seeing what the asking price is for Yves Missi in New Orleans, since the Pelicans apparently don’t see a future for him there.