Rookie guard VJ Edgecombe continues to impress for the Philadelphia 76ers, who are off to their first 3-0 start since the 2019-20 campaign.
The Sixers look to remain unbeaten when they visit the Washington Wizards on Tuesday.
With center Joel Embiid resting his surgically repaired left knee on the first night of a back-to-back, Tyrese Maxey scored 43 points and Edgecombe added 26 in Philadelphia’s 136-124 home win over the Orlando Magic on Monday.
Embiid is expected to return against Washington, which has dropped two of its first three games. The Wizards lost 139-113 to the visiting Charlotte Hornets on Sunday.
Washington will look to slow down the Sixers’ backcourt duo of Maxey and Edgecombe, who have combined for 186 points in three games.
Philadelphia has thrived even with Paul George (left knee surgery recovery), Jared McCain (right thumb surgery recovery) and Trendon Watford (left hamstring injury management) all sidelined to begin the season.
Edgecombe has been a revelation after being selected third overall in June’s NBA draft. The 19-year-old is averaging 24.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists through three games.
“It’s not that surprising to me,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said. “I think he’s this good. I thought it right away.”
Edgecombe leads all rookies in scoring and has quickly gained the respect of his teammates.
“VJ is very, very good,” Sixers center Andre Drummond said. “I’m not surprised by the way he’s playing and just his confidence level.”
Philadelphia won two of the three meetings last season against Washington, whose rebuilding effort appears to be trending in the right direction.
The Wizards’ young nucleus includes rookie Tre Johnson, second-year players Kyshawn George, Alex Sarr and Bub Carrington, and third-year forward Bilal Coulibaly. Like most young teams, however, the Wizards can be inconsistent.
One game after beating the host Dallas Mavericks 117-107, Washington gave up 88 points in the second half of the loss to Charlotte on Sunday.
The Wizards struggled to contain Hornets guard LaMelo Ball, who recorded his 11th career triple-double with 38 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists.
“Obviously, every night is not going to go how we want it to go,” Sarr said. “We’ve really got to watch film, get back at it. The good thing about (Sunday) is we know what went wrong — it was our defense.”
Coulibaly is recovering from offseason right thumb surgery, but the Wizards have been encouraged by the play of Johnson and George.
Johnson is the first Wizards rookie to score at least 15 points in each of his first three career games since Earl Monroe in 1967.
George scored a career-high 34 points in the win over Dallas before fouling out late in the game on Sunday against Charlotte. He had six points, eight rebounds and five assists in the loss.
The 6-foot-8 George is averaging a team-high 20.3 points and 9.3 rebounds and is tied for the team lead with 4.3 assists through three games.
“We’re in the process of getting better, and I like where our team’s going,” Washington coach Brian Keefe said. “I feel really good about it because I can see, when we’re playing well, it’s hard to guard, and we defend pretty well. The consistency part, when teams make adjustments, that’s part of learning.”
