The Sacramento Kings may have lost to the Sixers last night, but they at least made a game of it. Philadelphia eked out a two-point win thanks to Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid. The duo accounted for 77 of the Sixers' 113 points, while the Kings managed to at least keep it close this time.
At this point, the current iteration of the Sixers live and die by the performances of Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and rookie VJ Edgecombe. Paul George can be a factor as well, but those three are the main players on the team. When Embiid is healthy, Philly can be unstoppable.
Philadelphia took the first half of the game with a narrow lead, but the Kings came back in the third quarter to make it close. It wasn't a total collapse for Sacramento for once, but the Sixers did take control of the final frame enough to pick up a hard-fought victory.
Credit where credit is due, the Kings actually came close to winning. The final score of the game was 113 to 111 for the Sixers thanks to a layup from Maxey with 1.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Sacramento showed up and gave Philadelphia everything they could handle.
Two Sixers beat the Kings
In the end, Maxey dropped 40 points on the Kings, and Embiid had 37. On top of that, Joel led the Sixers in both assists and rebounds. The only other member of the Sixers in double digits was Paul George, who had 15 points. Together, they accounted for the vast majority of Philly's final score.
The Kings, on the other hand, had five players in double digits with two more right on the precipice of doing the same. It was a solid team effort from Sacramento, though Dennis Schroder and DeMar DeRozan were the top scorers with 27 points and 25 points, respectively.
Losing is rarely a good thing, but this was at least a respectable effort from the Kings. They kept it close and fought hard until the last second. It took superstar performances from the Sixers' two biggest stars for them to get the win. The rest of Philly's team was barely a factor.
The biggest takeaway from this loss for Sactown fans should be the fact that the Kings still have a lot of fight left in them. Despite missing players like Malik Monk, Keegan Murray, and Russell Westbrook, the Kings were still competitive through the full 48 minutes, which isn't always the case.