The Philadelphia 76ers notched their second win of the 2022-23 season without their key superstar. They won 112-90 versus the Toronto Raptors despite missing Joel Embiid, who was sidelined with knee soreness. Tyrese Maxey stepped up with a huge performance to lead the Sixers to victory.

The Sixers looked truly dominant without Embiid against a team that a.) just smoked them and b.) is one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference. The ball moved well, they didn't get cooked in transition like they usually have, and won a game that few people thought they would win. They tested the Ewing Theory heavily Friday night, but there's a reason why it's just a theory.

For one, Maxey had an unbelievable game. He made all 10 of his shots in the first half of his career-best performance. His 44 points nearly matched the 45 points that the Raptors' best two scorers (Pascal Siakam and O.G. Anunoby) had. Maxey is, of course, very good but he won't have shooting nights like these every night (at least, he probably won't).

The Sixers will still rely on Embiid for offense when he gets back to the court. But that doesn't necessarily have to come at the price of letting Maxey shine any less. The most promising thing about the Sixers' win against the Raptors is that it's very replicable when Embiid returns.

Philly got hot from deep (shooting at least 50 percent from behind the arc in each of the first two quarters) because they attacked the middle of the court as they went five out on offense. They also used the pick-and-roll but overall found room to drive and kicked the ball out for a 3-point shot. When the screener got the ball after setting the pick, they also kept their heads up and found spot-up shooters.

Embiid can draw the defense inward (and hang around the dunker spot like P.J. Tucker did at times) or spot up on the arc. The Sixers will certainly get him looks in the post too, but after doing a nice job of passing out of double teams versus the Raptors on Wednesday, he showed that he can be a part of an offense predicated on collapsing the defense and kicking it out. Eventually, he would have plenty of room to do damage inside once defenses commit harder to guarding the triple.

The Sixers may not be so switch-happy on defense with Embiid but, when he gets going, he is a game-changer on that end. Having a more switchy defensive lineup certainly helped on Friday but so would having a stout interior defender to lean on. Embiid's rebounding was missed often tonight, as the Raptors collected 15 offensive rebounds.

Overall, the Sixers laid the blueprint for how to look dominant and can insert Joel Embiid right into it when he returns.