Sixers Bell Ringer: Sixers’ star duo outshined Brooklyn’s

Sixers Bell Ringer regular season standings:

Joel Embiid: 10

Tyrese Maxey: 8

Seth Curry: 7

Tobias Harris: 3

Andre Drummond: 3

Furkan Korkmaz: 1

Charles Bassey: 1

Matisse Thybulle: 1

What a wildly entertaining night in Brooklyn.

Led by Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, the Sixers held on for a spirited 110-102 win over the Nets at Barclays Center Thursday. Despite the efforts of Kevin Durant and James Harden, the Sixers held on to finish off a perfect 3-0 road trip and end 2021 with easily their biggest win of the season.

Let’s talk Bell Ringer!

Joel Embiid: 34 points, six rebounds, three steals, one block

What else can you say? Embiid has looked every bit like a legitimate MVP candidate since returning from his multi-week absence while dealing with COVID. It was just more of the same tonight as he abused LaMarcus Aldridge.

Embiid’s biggest play likely came with 15.3 seconds left. With the Sixers clinging to a six-point lead, Tobias Harris drove to the rim and missed a short fadeaway. On a night in which the Sixers were outrebounded yet again, Embiid came away with the offensive board and was then fouled by Aldridge. All-Star, MVP stuff and an exclamation point on a hell of a win.

Embiid telling Durant to go home postgame — after KD did so following the Nets’ recent win over the Sixers — was equally dangerous and a whole lot of fun.

Tyrese Maxey: 25 points (5 of 8 from three), seven rebounds, three assists, zero turnovers

I mean, what else can you say? For a 21-year-old second-year player that’s filling in for an All-Star to walk into Barclays Center and hit a career-high five threes and a dagger baseline jumper to seal a win — while not committing a single turnover and being forced to guard one of the greatest offensive players in NBA history — ... just ... wow.

This was easily the best game Embiid and Maxey played as a duo. There was a short stint in the third where it appeared Maxey was back to his deferential ways, but his big fourth quarter was super encouraging in that regard. This all comes a game after Embiid jokingly said Maxey was “trash” in a win over Toronto. Maxey made sure to mention that comment in his postgame interview.

Honorable mention: Seth Curry (17 points), George Niang (nine points, shit talking), Andre Drummond (10 points, 10 rebounds), Dan Burke (filling in for Doc Rivers)

I mention these three players only because they did play big parts in the win, but your votes should obviously go to one of the aforementioned duo. Curry had a quiet first half, but warmed up after halftime and hit a big three down the stretch. In his first game back from health and safety protocols, Drummond gave the Sixers a huge boost when relieving Embiid. And Niang nailed a pair of big threes in the fourth and, as our Shamus Clancy wrote in his recap, “being a little bit of a cocky MF-er whenever he makes a three.” Two excellent signings by the Sixers.

And just a cool moment for longtime NBA assistant Dan Burke.