Rookie guard VJ Edgecombe continues to impress the Philadelphia 76ers, who are off to their first 3-0 start since the 2019-20 campaign.
The Sixers look to remain undefeated when they visit the Washington Wizards on Tuesday.
While center Joel Embiid rested his surgically repaired left knee on the first night of a back-to-back, Tyrese Maxey scored 43 points and Edgecombe added 26 in Philadelphia’s 136-124 home win over the Orlando Magic on Monday.
Embiid is expected to return against Washington, which has lost two of its first three games. The Wizards lost 139-113 to the visiting Charlotte Hornets on Sunday.
Washington will look to slow down the Sixers’ backcourt duo of Maxey and Edgecombe, who have combined for 186 points in three games.
Philadelphia thrived even with Paul George (recovering from left knee surgery), Jared McCain (recovering from right thumb surgery) and Trendon Watford (dealing with left hamstring injury) all sidelined to start the season.
Edgecombe was a revelation after being selected third overall in June’s NBA draft. The 19-year-old is averaging 24.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists in three games.
“It doesn’t really surprise me,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said. “I think he’s so good. I thought so right away.”
Edgecombe is the leading scorer of all rookies and has quickly earned the respect of his teammates.
“VJ is very, very good,” Sixers center Andre Drummond said. “I’m not surprised by the way he plays, just by his confidence level.”
Philadelphia won two of three meetings last season against Washington, whose rebuilding efforts appear to be going in the right direction.
The Wizards’ young core includes rookie Tre Johnson, second-year players Kyshawn George, Alex Sarr and Bub Carrington, and third-year forward Bilal Coulibaly. However, like most young teams, the Wizards can be inconsistent.
One game after beating the Dallas Mavericks 117-107, Washington gave up 88 points in the second half of the loss to Charlotte on Sunday.
The Wizards struggled to contain Hornets guard LaMelo Ball, who recorded his 11th career triple-double with 38 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists.
“Obviously, not every night is going to go the way we want,” Sarr said. “We really have to watch film and come back to it. The good thing (Sunday) is we know what went wrong: It was our defense.”
Coulibaly is recovering from offseason surgery on his right thumb, but the Wizards have been encouraged by the play of Johnson and George.
Johnson is the first Wizards rookie to score at least 15 points in each of his first three career games since Earl Monroe in 1967.
George scored a career-high 34 points in the win over Dallas before fouling out late in Sunday’s game against Charlotte. He had six points, eight rebounds and five assists in the loss.
The 6-foot-8 George is averaging a team-high 20.3 points and 9.3 rebounds and is tied for the team lead with 4.3 assists in three games.
“We’re getting better and I like the direction our team is going,” Washington coach Brian Keefe said. “I feel really good because I can see that when we play well, it’s hard to defend and we defend pretty well. The consistency, when teams make adjustments, that’s part of the learning.”
–Field level media
