Copyright phillyvoice
PHILADELPHIA – Neither game played by the 2025-26 Philadelphia 76ers has gone according to plan. The good news: both times, the Sixers erased a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter, completed a comeback victory and rejoiced a win they would not have earned a year ago. On Saturday night, plenty of smiles followed a thrilling Sixers win over the Charlotte Hornets, 125-121, in the team's home opener. In this week's Sunday stats, an examination of how the Sixers pulled off another victory that eventually seemed improbable en route to a 2-0 record. Joel Embiid's playing time in the second half of Saturday's game. On Wednesday night in Boston, the Sixers won their season opener in spite of Embiid's 20 minutes. The former NBA MVP played at the starts of each quarter, never established any rhythm and looked far too slow for the game. On Saturday, however, Embiid was able to assert his control over the game and its pace. He looked far more capable of keeping up, and the Sixers would not have won if not for the quality of his 20 minutes. While Embiid's minutes restriction is unchanged, the team's approach to allotting them across the 48-minute contest was altered significantly on Saturday. He played 15 minutes in the first half and only the first five minutes of the second half. He started out very well, so the Sixers extended his first burst by a few minutes. "I think he was feeling good, so we didn't want to have a long cooling-off period," Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said. "I think you ride the hot hand a little bit. That's why we used a few more in the first half." For what it's worth, Embiid appears to greatly prefer Saturday's structure to Wednesday's. Playing for five minutes at a time and having such long breaks did not afford him any chance to find a groove, he said after scoring 20 points in as many minutes on just 11 shot attempts. Embiid also said in shorter stints, he feels more pressure to make a play happen because he knows he is checking out soon. He is at ease mentally when he can play for a longer period of time. This is all uncharted territory for Embiid, so any feeling of normalcy should be cherished right now. That means, as much as Embiid does not want to be out of commission for much of the second half, he would rather have just one half feel largely normal than none at all: The Sixers are doing everything they can to keep Embiid on the right path so he can enjoy a long and healthy season with a chance to perform in the playoffs. And of course, as Embiid stressed on multiple occasions, he is eager to play more than those 20 minutes. He is not the only one antsy the leash to grow longer. "I look forward to having that minute restriction go up," Nurse said. "A little. If we can. If we can." The number of positions played by Quentin Grimes across his 30 minutes in Saturday's game. The earliest of returns on Grimes, the 25-year-old guard playing on the qualifying offer after a contentious restricted free agency, have been incredibly strong. Grimes is filling several roles at once, and even with VJ Edgecombe starting ahead of him he is playing "starter minutes," as Nurse put it on Saturday's game. He should, because he is too good of a player to play reserve minutes. Grimes spent significant time at point guard, shooting guard and small forward this season, all in just two games. Every time Grimes has checked back into a game, his role on offense or defense has been substantially different from what it had been when he checked out of his prior stint. For a player with everything on the line individually and financially this season, Grimes' play has reflected that of someone focused on the greater good. Perhaps the basketball gods smiled down upon Grimes on Saturday, and that is why he got to take and make the deciding shot, a go-ahead triple after Tyrese Maxey drew a help defender: His game-winning shot aside, Grimes was very arguably the Sixers' best all-around player against Charlotte. Maxey, Edgecombe and Grimes have done tremendous work to make three-guard lineups a massive positive right off the bat. Their ability to coexist and trade primary scoring duties happily bodes well for the eventual integration of Jared McCain. Grimes is the key component of that arrangement, because it all hinges on his ability to guard up and defend a wing. How much faith does he have in those three-guard units? "Super confident," Grimes said after the team's practice on Friday. "Three guys that can make plays for each other or a teammate, can score at all three levels, I feel like having us a premium. We can all handle the ball, come out of pick-and-rolls, shoot, just make plays. It's definitely a premium in this league for sure." MORE: Sixers, Flyers accelerate timeline for new arena in South Philly The Sixers' point differential with Andre Drummond on the court during the final 16 minutes of Saturday's game. When Drummond took an ill-advised corner triple and it clanked off the rim late in the third quarter, it did not feel like things were trending toward the veteran center swinging the game in his team's favor. But Drummond, who checked in for the first time at the 3:50 mark of the third quarter, did exactly that. Drummond only sat for 1.9 seconds of the nearly 16 minutes that remained in the game, and the Sixers would absolutely not have won the game without his efforts. Drummond scored seven points, grabbed 13 rebounds (six on the offensive glass), dished out three assists and nabbed two steals. He looked... familiar. "I felt normal," Drummond said. "I felt like myself." Drummond's first full season with the Sixers was disastrous; his 2024-25 campaign was derailed by a toe injury but he also looked like a shell of himself before the injury occurred. Thanks to an important offseason which included a stricter diet and more running, Drummond said he entered this season in the best shape he could possibly be in. Logging all of those minutes at once was not a problem. "I was able to move the way I wanted to move," Drummond said. "Reaction time was there. Just the spring in my jumps, and how fast I was moving. It felt good to feel like myself again." INSTANT OBSERVATIONS Sixers beat Celtics on opening night | Sixers host Hornets in home opener
