George Returns, Drummond Impresses, and the Sixers Narrowly Escape - 76 Place

Photo Credit: Sixers Wire

That wasn't exactly an inspiring win.

The Sixers got the W Monday night against the Los Angeles Clippers 110-108, fueled by 39 points from Tyrese Maxey in Paul George's season debut. It was the second half of a back-to-back in which the Clippers were missing Kawhi Leonard, Derrick Jones Jr, and Bradley Beal. The Sixers, to their credit, were missing Joel Embiid, Kelly Oubre, and Adem Bona themselves.

Joel Embiid who? Andre Drummond was a beast on the boards Monday night, grabbing 18 of them to go along with his 14 points (with a three-pointer!). Quentin Grimes poured in 19 points off the bench and VJ Edgecombe scored 14. Every other player had less than 10 - including Paul George, whose season debut sent Trendon Watford to the bench.

A win is a win, but that was a lot closer than it should've been. The Clippers were missing many of their big guns and you have a guy in 36-year-old James Harden who played 37 minutes the day before, 51 minutes two days prior to that, playing 36 minutes against the Sixers. Luckily, Harden went 2-12 from three-point range, including a very, very fortunate missed foul call by Quentin Grimes on the last shot of the game.

A shot that should've never even happened.

The Sixers have had far too heavy a reliance on Tyrese Maxey late in game, giving him the ball and hoping he just figures things out (spoiler: he doesn't). And that's not his fault - he should not be in that position. But over the final six minutes of this game, Tyrese Maxey and Quentin Grimes matched each other in field goals attempted (4), while VJ Edgecombe had two, and Andre Drummond had one. This is notable because it's usually Maxey (500) and everyone else (0).

But Maxey did his best to give this one away. In the final 30 seconds, Maxey turned the ball over twice. He's taken massive leaps forward this season in becoming a superstar - especially one that you can rely on late in games - but those passes were totally unacceptable. A two point win in a home game over the oldest roster in the league, who was heavily depleted, and coming off a game the previous day is not one that makes you feel great - especially when Paul George didn't look the best, either, and Jared McCain inexplicably played just five minutes.

The Sixers will have three more games this week to figure things out - Wednesday against the Raptors, Thursday in Milwaukee, and Sunday against the Heat. Joel Embiid will not be playing in Wednesday's game. That marks a ten day absence due to knee soreness, for those keeping score at home.