Sixers Bell Ringer season standings:Jared McCain – 8Paul George – 3.5Tyrese Maxey – 3.5KJ Martin – 2Guerschon Yabusele – 2Joel Embiid – 2Justin Edwards – 1Kelly Oubre Jr – 1Ricky Council IV – 1

(No poll was posted following the 12/16 win over Charlotte, so in a Liberty Ballers first, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey each received half a Bell Ringer.)

If the Philadelphia 76ers were able to play the Charlotte Hornets twice per week for the rest of the season, I’m confident they would not only make the playoffs, but earn home-court advantage for the first round. Alas, the Sixers can no longer spam beating the Hornets to rise up the standings, as Friday night’s 108-98 win in Philadelphia was the last meeting between the clubs this season (the Sixers went 4-0).

The big story tonight was Joel Embiid’s return after missing one game due to a sinus fracture. The Phantom of the Process was back, as Joel donned the mask for another time during his ill-fortuned career. The mask did not overly slow Embiid down, as he led all scorers with 34 points and nine assists.

Philadelphia led by 23 points early in the game, but did allow Charlotte back into things and the lead was down to just six points in the fourth quarter. Still, the Sixers reapplied pressure and stopped the bleeding, finishing with the comfortable double-digit victory. Friday was the first time three Sixers have scored 20 points or more in a game this season, so let’s go ahead and make those three guys our Bell Ringer nominees for the evening.

Joel Embiid: 34 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 4 turnovers

For a guy who wasn’t supposed to be back yet from a sinus fracture, hasn’t played much lately or at all this season, and has discussed how he doesn’t like playing with a mask, Joel Embiid looked pretty darn good on Friday night. Now, you could definitely notice some differences from his normal game. He wasn’t mixing it up much on the interior, not recording a rebound until the fourth quarter. But it certainly had a rhythm going, knocking down plenty of jumpers and looked completely composed in orchestrating the offense. Embiid made some excellent reads in finding Tyrese Maxey and Kelly Oubre for buckets, and it’s crazy how much the offense opens up with a former MVP out there attracting attention from the defense. Later in the game, Joel looked more comfortable creating for himself off the dribble, losing Vasilije Micic with a shimmy to nail a pull-up jumper and finishing a handful of drives with finger rolls lay-ins. The Phantom of the Process was playing all the right notes on this night.

Kelly Oubre Jr.: 22 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 0 turnovers

Tonight was a nearly perfect ‘let the flow of the game come to you’ performance from Kelly, who finished 8-of-10 from the field. He knocked down four triples, all of which were the catch-and-shoot variety from two Sixers stars (two assists coming from Paul George and two from Embiid). Nothing was forced, with his other buckets coming in transition or off the cut (with one nice off-the-dribble floater to bail out the Sixers with a buzzer beater to end the third quarter). With all three stars available for Philadelphia, Oubre slid into the role player identity seamlessly and did everything you would want him to do.

Embiid with the feed to Oubre after pulling Cody Martin’s attention away

That’s 15 points for Oubre so far tonight against his former team. pic.twitter.com/RpEWcncYou

— Liberty Ballers (@Liberty_Ballers) December 21, 2024

Tyrese Maxey: 23 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers

Tyrese’s hot shooting start was one of the primary reasons the Sixers were able to jump out to a huge lead and set the tone for the rest of the game. He shot 4-of-6 from three and scored 15 points in the first quarter alone, making sweet music with Embiid in the two-man game. Unsurprisingly, things definitely come easier for Maxey when he is able to play off the big man. While his shooting would cool off, he ramped up his playmaking, with all six of his assists coming in the second half, including a dope one-handed alley-oop to KJ Martin in transition. It wasn’t an utterly dominant performance from Maxey, but with the Sixers having fewer names on the injury report than usual, they didn’t need it to be, and Tyrese did more than enough to contribute in the win.

The Joel Embiid between the legs pass to Tyrese Maxey instead of a DHO is one of my favorite two man actions they use

It’s been an ugly start to the season but the bones of what this Sixers team is supposed to look like are therepic.twitter.com/zfNcn1j2qp

— Sean Barnard (@Sean_Barnard1) December 21, 2024

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