Tyrese Maxey scored 43 points as the Philadelphia 76ers improved to 3-0 by defeating the visiting Orlando Magic 136-124 on Monday.
Kelly Oubre Jr. added 25 points and 10 rebounds for Philadelphia, which played without Joel Embiid (knee injury management) for the first time this season. Sixers rookie VJ Edgecombe continued the impressive start to his career, contributing 26 points and seven assists.
Paolo Banchero scored 32 points and Desmond Bane added 24 points before fouling out. Franz Wagner chipped in 22 points for Orlando, which has lost three of its first four games.
Philadelphia led by nine after two long 3-pointers by Eric Gordon early in the fourth, but Orlando chipped away.
Wendell Carter Jr.’s 3-pointer with 6:39 left got the Magic within 115-111 and then Anthony Black’s layup on the next possession made it a two-point game. However, Quentin Grimes answered with three free throws after being fouled on a long-range attempt to help Philadelphia regain momentum.
With the Sixers clinging to a 125-120 lead with about two minutes left, Maxey scored on three straight possessions — a layup, a 3-pointer and a floater — to secure the win.
The Sixers scored 12 points before three minutes had elapsed, and they took their first double-digit lead, 28-18, with just over three minutes left in the first quarter.
The Magic closed within 33-28 by the end of the opening period, but Maxey dominated the second quarter. He scored 10 points in less than three minutes midway through the session and finished with 17 points in the quarter as Philadelphia took a 72-60 lead into intermission.
Edgecombe’s bucket put the Sixers up 79-64 midway through the third quarter and the hosts still held a comfortable 14-point lead on Maxey’s basket with about four minutes left in the period.
However, the visitors scored 16 points in the final four minutes of the third quarter, capped by Black’s buzzer-beating heave from the opposing 3-point line, to close within 101-94 heading into the fourth.
