Back like they never left.
The Sixers kicked off the 2025 preseason with a 99-84 loss to the New York Knicks Thursday afternoon in a game they finished 3-of-36 from three.
Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe led the Sixers in scoring with 14 points apiece. Maxey shot 5-of-12 from the floor along with four boards, four assists, a steal and a block. Edgecombe was 4-of-13 from the field and 1-of-6 from thee, which was much better than many of his teammates, and got to the line five times. He also finished with six rebounds and three assists.
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Kelly Oubre Jr. had eight points on 2-of-8 shooting while Adem Bona had four points and a block. Miles McBride led the Knicks in scoring with 12.
Joel Embiid and Paul George were unsurprisingly out for this one, along with Jared McCain, Trendon Watford and Emoni Bates.
Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.
First Quarter
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The first crack at center minutes was given to Bona, who was on the board early when teammates were able to find him for open lobs in the dunker spot. He also got on the board early in the foul category though as he picked up two in as many minutes. One of those lobs he caught was a direct result of a fast pace push started by Edgecombe. He was able to get out and run on this play after ripping a rebound out of Mitchell Robinson’s hands on the other end.
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A chance to initiate some offense was given to Edgecombe once Maxey went to the bench for the first time. He used a screen to get to the basket for a good look once, but came up short on the attempt. The offense as a whole went into a rut when the second unit checked in. Some more center options saw the floor together as Andre Drummond and Jabari Walker checked in at the same time, though they were matching up against Karl-Anthony Towns and Robinson.
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Edgecombe finally got his first basket to fall when he finished a cut with one dribble to lay it up with his right hand. He found Johni Broome on a similar play on the following possession, slashing through the lane and finding his fellow rookie in the dunker. Shortly after Maxey knocked down a floater, rounding off a solid quarter of work for himself and tying the game up at 25 after one.
Second Quarter
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Broome continued to get some good looks by standing around for dump offs, but he did smoke a couple of them. He wasn’t exactly able to keep the Knicks off the offensive glass, but he didn’t do any worse of a job than any other big that saw the floor early. The wing that looked the best early on was Oubre, who looked like he was shot out of a canon. He had a chase down block on old friend Guerschon Yabusele early in the quarter.
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Both of the offenses continued to slog in an expected “first preseason game of the year” sort of way, but Edgecombe appeared to settle in to something comfortable. He had his first ambitious poster attempt of his career, nearly stuffing one down over Robinson. On the ensuing possession he bailed out a broken play by rising up and knocking down a three.
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Not long after this though did YouTube TV (and perhaps even more cable carriers) region blocked the game for those in the Philadelphia market. Good thing, in the commissioner’s own words, this is a highlight league. There wasn’t much missed though as the Sixers only mustered a Dominick Barlow layup. Edgecombe got up a three that was too long as the buzzer that kept the Knicks’ lead at 10 at the break.
Third Quarter
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The second half started slow as well, but the Sixers had a couple of nice shot rejections early in it. Bona got up to decisively erase a fast break layup attempt. Shortly after Oubre was able to get out and block a Yabu three. On the other end, Maxey hit a really nice layup where he slowed down to go up and around defenders, but there wasn’t much to speak of on that end. Not only had Edgecombe still made their only three of the night so far, he was the only Sixer consistently attempting them as well.
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Some of the most encouraging plays from Edgecombe came from second side actions, such as his first points and assist of the game. He made a really nice read later to find Oubre for the team’s second three of the night when he was able to collapse the defense to make the pass to the open corner.
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Things only looked even worse for the Sixers as the end of the bench started to filter in to the game more. After that Oubre three they only scored seven more points the rest of the quarter. Most of the guys out there don’t project to be real contributors, but Justin Edwards followed up his rough summer league performance. Through three quarters he was 0-of-7 from the floor with three turnovers. The Knicks pushed things out to a 24-point lead.
Fourth Quarter
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Most of the expected regulars were done for the night at this point, though Edgecombe’s presence still made it well worth watching. He continued to look good getting places off the dribble. As his stat line reflects though, he didn’t find a groove where he hit shots consistently. All in all, not a bad preseason debut by any means.
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Even for a preseason game, this was an extremely dreadful three-point shooting performance from the Sixers. Here’s some further context of just how cold they were in this one, courtesy of Derek Bodner of PHLY Sports.
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The Sixers and Knicks will go at it again one more time in Abu Dhabi as they’ll face off Saturday morning at 11 a.m. ET, once again on NBATV.
