After a four-day break, the Philadelphia 76ers (13-7) took on the Washington Wizards (3-17). With a fully healthy team for the first time in a while, the Sixers played next to no defense for most of the game but still came away with the win by a score of 131-126.

Let's break down a Sixers win over to the Wizards that was waaayyy too close for comfort.

Sixers player notes:

Joel Embiid: 50 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists, 19-29 FG shooting

There was no Embiid in this one as he notched his first 50-burger of the season. He was too big and too skilled with the ball to be held back by anyone other than himself. It often looks easy for the big man but this game was a cut above the rest, save for the high-turnover aspect of his performance. Embiid was a monster scoring inside and he got busy in the post as well.

Anything short of this level of game from Embiid might have put the Sixers too far behind to win.

Tyrese Maxey: 26 points, 1 rebound, 7 assists, 10-20 FG shooting

After missing his first game of the season, Maxey couldn’t buy a shot in the first half. He missed his first four attempts from deep before scoring on a heave off the backboard at the first-half buzzer to kickstart a strong second half. The runner was frequently his weapon of choice, as was forcing his way to the rim.

Kelly Oubre Jr.: 12 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 5-8 FG shooting

After missing the last 11 games with a fractured rib, Oubre made his return to the court in his first NBA home. The plan was for him to have shorter stints tonight to work his conditioning back up and Nurse did just that, playing him very sparsely. Oubre had some nice plays, including a few dunks, in his first game in a month.

Wizards player notes:

Jordan Poole: 23 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 10-16 FG shooting

Poole's hilarious season continued by missing one of his shots behind the backboard. But he otherwise had a very solid night, scoring the ball with high efficiency, especially from the midrange. He cooled off later in the game but still gave Washington a much-needed offensive boost.

Bilal Coulibaly: 14 points, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 3 steals, 6-9 FG shooting

The rookie wing from France is not talked about that much because he's still very raw (and because no one really wants to talk about the Wizards) but don’t be surprised if he's an All-Rookie Team member. He's an advanced defender for his age and can contribute here and there on the other end with his athleticism.

Game recap:

1st half

With Kelly Oubre Jr. back following an extended absence, Nick Nurse had his whole roster available for the first time in weeks. He said pregame that it might be tough for guys who have stepped up to now revert back to a lesser role but the Sixers are still trying to optimize their rotation and lineup combinations.

The Wizards guarded Maxey with Tyus Jones while the Sixers guarded Poole with De'Anthony Melton and Kuzma with Nicolas Batum. Daniel Gafford, of course, guarded Embiid, but Embiid went right at him early on, scoring the first six Philly points. He took Gafford off the dribble and scored with feeds from his teammates but the other #21 did not shy away, scoring six early points of his own as Washington started the game scoring efficiently.

Interestingly, though, Gafford was the first player to sub out for the Wizards and he was replaced by Danilo Gallinari, who surrendered disadvantages in weight, height and age to Embiid. Washington, despite also being lackadaisical on the defensive glass, still held an early advantage thanks to some hot shooting. That efficiency did not extend to the three-point line, though, as both teams combined to miss their first 10 threes.

Coulibaly stole Embiid's cookies in the backcourt for an easy slam, showing off his impressive defensive chops. Embiid eventually racked up 15 points in the opening period once he found the space to impose his physicality. Philly's woes from beyond the arc continued through their first 13 tries. Washington at least went full Steph Curry mode and made TWO of their first 10 attempts.

Oubre checked into the game with 2:15 left in the first quarter along with Marcus Morris Sr. and Patrick Beverley and came back out with 9:29 left in the second quarter — nearly five minutes of game time. He scored his first points on a Maxey-assisted dunk but also gave Coulibaly an and-one on the next time down. Nurse kept him in to start the second quarter in an all-bench lineup. Patrick Beverley did most of the running of the offense and it did not go well.

The Sixers stumbled their way into rim pressure to squeeze out points here and there while Deni Avdija and Core Kispert went to work. It could not have been more obvious that not having Embiid or Maxey severely held them back. They came back in halfway through the second quarter.

The Wizards knew it was unwise to challenge Embiid at the rim — as was displayed when Kuzma tried to get one by him and was rejected — so they settled for shots near the foul line and made a good number of them. Embiid pummeling his way to the rim and the Sixers pushing the pace helped them get back ahead. Melton tallied seven quick points, including Philly's first triple, in a 15-4 run that only temporarily put them in front.

At the break, the Sixers trailed 62-60. They were losing the battle in transition points 18-4 and shot just 2-16 from deep.

2nd half

Kuzma was again denied in an attempt at the rim by Embiid but the Wizards still stayed ahead in the early proceedings of the half. The Sixers did perhaps the worst job they've done all season of staying with their man on screens. Embiid opted to keep the rim protected and Washington made the shots Philly let them have.

The Sixers could have used some Jaden Springer in this game. With their offense already in a rut, the concerns around his shooting were not all that high. They needed someone to offer any sort of firm resistance at the point of attack. Nurse opted not to include him in the 10-man rotation or expand it to get the team's best POA defender some playing time.

Philly still should have been able to turn its defensive fortunes around with the guys that did play but no such thing happened. Botched rotations and Washington playing with more gusto on offense made the game a shootout when, even with the awful 3-point shooting, it could have been a comfortable win. Embiid roaming off of Coulibaly allowed the Wizards to get some good looks out of the pick-and-roll. Trying a zone resulted in a cutting dunk from Kuzma.

With a 9-0 run to end the third quarter, the Sixers took one of their biggest leads of the night into the fourth. The Wizards took it right back with a run of their own as the Maxey-and-bench lineup put together clunky, slow offensive possessions. Coulibaly shot some energy into the home crowd with a thunderous dunk over Paul Reed.

It ended being Oubre who kept the Sixers going with some huge plays, including a putback dunk, an and-one and a corner three. Philly compiled an absolutely humongous lead of seven points with just a handful of minutes to go but Washington stuck around. Embiid came through with clutch points (haha!) but the lead narrowed.

Gafford fouling out opened up Embiid to use his size advantage even more. Embiid reached the half-century mark with a step-back middie to put the Sixers up by six with under 20 seconds to go. Even in a nightmare performance for his team, Embiid is good enough to will his team to victory in almost any context.

Random rumblings:

  • Nurse said before the game that the Sixers have “another thing tonight we're gonna pull out and we're gonna see how that looks.” Stay tuned for what it is in his postgame media availability.

The Sixers will be back home on Friday to take on the Atlanta Hawks.