Tyrese Maxey, Guerschon Yabusele fuel Sixers' 109-103 win over Wizards

Keith Pompey, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jan 8, 2025

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PHILADELPHIA — The product inside the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday was the effects of load management, injuries and tanking.

The contest was exciting. But the 76ers and Washington Wizards were both shells of themselves in a game far from the NBA standard. It will go down as a 109-103 victory that improved the Sixers to 15-20.

Tyrese Maxey and Guerschon Yabusele were the difference in this one.

Maxey finished with 29 points, six assists and three rebounds. Meanwhile, Yabusele added 21 points while making 5 of 7 3-pointers to go with eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

But the Sixers squandered a 15-point fourth-quarter advantage.

The Wizards (6-29) took a two-point lead on Corey Kispert’s 3-pointer with 4 minutes, 25 seconds remaining. But Kelly Oubre Jr. responded with a dunk on the ensuing possession to knot the score at 98.

Former Sixer Richaun Holmes split a pair of foul shots with 3:21 left to give the Wizards a one-point lead. After a Wizards 3-pointer, Eric Gordon responded with 3 with 2:16 remaining to tie the game at 101. Maxey’s layup with 23.7 seconds remaining gave the Sixers a 105-103 lead.

On the ensuing possession, Yabusele blocked Washington’s Bilal Coulibaly’s layup. Maxey grabbed the rebound and got the ball to Gordon, who made one of two foul shots to put the Sixers up three.

After Maxey added a foul shot, Yabusele hit a pair to put the Sixers up six with 7.6 seconds left. The Sixers ended the game with an 11-2 run.

And some of the announced 19,762 in attendance got to see it at a bargain. Tickets in the Assembly Room of the arena were $5 with fees on StubHub. Tickets could be purchased for $8 plus fees in section 118.

A lot of that has to do with a lot of the teams’ stars being sidelined.

The Sixers’ Joel Embiid (sprained left foot), Paul George (left groin tightness), Kyle Lowry (right hip soreness), KJ Martin (left foot stress reaction), Jared McCain (left knee meniscus surgery) and Andre Drummond (left toe sprain) were out with injuries. The Wizards were without Jordan Poole (left hip contusion), Malcom Brogdon (right foot pain), Marvin Bagley (right knee sprain), Saddiq Bey (left knee ACL surgery), Tristan Vukcevic (right ankle sprain), Johnny Davis (non-COVID illness) and Alex Sarr (non-COVID illness).

Up next

The Sixers will host the New Orleans on Friday at 7 p.m. The Pelicans took a 7-30 record into Wednesday night’s matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers.