Sixer of the Week: Triple-doubles, on-court dancing, and sneaker money

Like Eminem, T.I., and Slim Thug once said, I’m back. Or rather, Sixer of the Week is back. We’re returning an old feature to the site, covering the last seven days from Sunday to Saturday and the top Sixers performers over that time period.

Since last Sunday, the Sixers romped over Detroit in a home-and-home set, forgot how to play defense against Oklahoma City, and then avoided a terrible collapse loss against a Lauri-less Utah squad, winning, 118-117, on a Joel Embiid game-winner to kick off their West Coast trip. 3-1 is good, but these weren’t exactly world-beaters. Who will be our first Sixer of the Week of 2023?

Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

James Harden started off this week with consecutive triple-doubles, nearly getting both by halftime in two contests against the Pistons. Pretty good! Then, against the Thunder, the defense wasn’t great, but the Beard was the offensive engine for Philadelphia with five threes and dropped 15 assists against the Thunder. Saturday night’s showing might have been an even more prodigious scoring display, as Harden tallied 31 points and 11 assists. The 31 points were tied for his most since the season opener against Boston, and he assisted the game-winning bucket.

Final line for the week: 22.8 points (56.6/50.0/85.0 splits), 8.8 rebounds, 13.0 assists

Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

Joel Embiid missed the first game this week with his foot soreness issue, then while we saw him limp at times in his return to the court, the big man still racked up at least 30 points in all three contests. Of course, Embiid’s biggest points this week were his final two, the ol’ Dirk Nowitzki, one-legged special that Joel went out and perfected one summer.

But regular seasons are long and arduous, and sometimes it’s the moments of levity outside the 48 minutes of the game that bring us more joy than the actual basketball. To which, I bring you, Joel Embiid getting stuck in the middle of the Jazz dancers.

Final line for the week (3 games): 32.0 points (56.4/42.9/91.2 splits), 9.3 rebounds, 1.7 blocks

Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

This is the week Tyrese Maxey got his groove back. Despite a cold spell from behind the arc, the young gun still scored at least 16 points across the four games, twice topping the 20 mark. In bigger news, Maxey secured a sneaker endorsement deal this week with New Balance. Quickly one of the most beloved figures in the Philadelphia sports scene, there couldn’t be a better person to be able to secure the bag than Tyrese.

Final line of the week: 19.3 points (43.5/28.6/93.8 splits)