Direct observations: After Nick Nurse changes his starting lineup, the Sixers earn an overtime win

PHILADELPHIA – The Sixers have had plenty of encouraging wins in the 2025-26 season, but their win over the Houston Rockets on Thursday night is among the most convincing wins from their regular season thus far.

The Sixers brought back Joel Embiid and Paul George after both were absent in Tuesday’s loss to the Phoenix Suns, and their two highest-paid players were needed against Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets. Against a wing-heavy Houston team, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse made a change to a starting lineup that worked quite well. Results were mixed with its new opening unit, but after a shaky opening stretch, the Sixers pretty much went wire-to-wire as the better team.

Maxey shook off another shaky start and delivered a strong two-way effort, while Embiid was a dominant offensive force all night and Kelly Oubre Jr. scored again. The Sixers may have been in a vulnerable position defensively, but their efforts on that end of the floor increased as the game progressed.

The Sixers led by two points entering the fourth quarter, but Houston went on a 9-2 run at the end of a third quarter and picked up where they left off early in the fourth, forcing a nurse’s timeout with a 10-4 run that put them ahead by four points with eight minutes left. That lead expanded to eight points with five minutes to go, when Embiid and Maxey provided a punchy lead that tied the game. Durant put Houston ahead again before excellent defensive play from George Maxey tied the score.

One stop later, the Sixers had a chance to win the game. The nurse got Maxey going downhill, and the All-Star starter appeared to score the winning basket by forcing a goaltending violation. But the officials missed it, and so the Sixers went to overtime:

But in those five extra minutes, the Sixers endured the emotional disappointment of the missed call. George, VJ Edgecombe and Maxey all scored key baskets, with Embiid remaining an influential presence on the court as he headed into the 45 minute mark. It all came together in an emotional, invigorating victory in front of a raucous crowd. Embiid scored a triple-double at the end with a monstrous line of 32 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists.The Sixers are 24-19. Takeaways from a strong 128-122 win:

Nick Nurse changes his starting lineup

When the Sixers’ shootaround opened to the media Thursday morning, Oubre had a blue practice jersey draped over his shoulder. Meanwhile, Dominick Barlow took shots for the first time in two months while donning a gray jersey.

What does that mean? When the Sixers have a practice or shootaround, their first unit wears blue, while the reserves are gray. This seemed to foreshadow the fact that Barlow, who had started 29 of his 32 appearances this season and hadn’t come off the bench since Nov. 23, would be replaced by Oubre in the starting lineup to give the Sixers more space, offensive firepower and perimeter defense against a wing-heavy Rockets team. And 30 minutes before tip-off, that speculation was confirmed when Oubre, after back-to-back strong games, was in the starting line-up above Barlow.

For the third straight game, Oubre set the tone offensively for the Sixers, scoring eight points before five minutes had elapsed. The Sixers had more room to operate offensively, which the veteran swingman took advantage of early. His red-hot shooting and scoring continued; Oubre went into the break with 16 points and did so on just eight shot attempts.

Oubre’s surge continued in the second half, and that doesn’t take away from his individual excellence on Thursday. But even if it meant George sat in place of Oubre, the Sixers’ best minutes in this game came when Barlow was next to Embiid.

Against a pretty big Rockets team, the Sixers didn’t have any imposing inside forces outside of Embiid in their opening lineup, and Embiid’s limited mobility remains an issue defensively. Houston thrived offensively in the game’s opening stint, quickly taking control of the game with 22 points in seven minutes and rotating against the Sixers’ starting five before Barlow checked in. The Sixers spent the rest of the first half with a traditional power forward in the game – partly because George was in foul trouble – and their defense stabilized.

Oubre, who was playing great basketball early in the season as one of the top-level starters in the NBA, has been a reserve in top minutes with some spot starts due to injury since returning from a sprained LCL in his left knee. Barlow and Embiid had developed a great dynamic on both ends of the floor, and with George back in the fold, Nurse saw no reason to change anything. But he has indicated lately that with his team at full strength for the first time in more than two years, he would like to make more flexible decisions about the starting lineup.

Playing the matchups with your fifth starter is not an uncommon practice in the league. Time will tell if Nurse moved to Oubre permanently or began implementing some sort of platoon at the second forward spot next to George.

Joel Embiid’s 70-point game, two years later

On January 22, 2023, Embiid scored 70 points against rookie Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs. It was the ultimate representation of what was then a complete mastery of basketball:

Embiid was unstoppable and followed up his NBA MVP season with a much stronger season – until Embiid suffered a torn meniscus a few games later. A lot has happened since then.

“I just remember he kept scoring,” Nurse said before Thursday’s game. “…It was pretty cool and it’s definitely the highest scoring [game] I was definitely part of it at some point.”

The next two years were the most difficult of Embiid’s playing career in the NBA, from the meniscus tear, to battling significant pain in a high-intensity playoff series, to playing in only 19 games last season and needing another surgery. Embiid has made significant progress over the past month, both in performance and availability, but remains far from his best self.

“It’s hard. It sucks for him,” said Rockets head coach Ime Udoka, who had a close relationship with Embiid for a year as a Sixers assistant coach. Udoka praised Embiid’s work ethic and pointed out that stars who often miss games can be seen as lax workers, while the opposite is often true. Udoka, who also cited his experience coaching Kawhi Leonard, called it “working 24 hours a day to get your body ready to play,” and said, “It sucks for him to know what a dominant player he is and what skills he has.”

Embiid is the first to acknowledge that he still has a long way to go before he reaches the heights he briefly reached two years ago. Nurse agrees. Of course, the fact that Embiid moved and played better on Thursday than he has in any game since his meniscus tore and dominated in 45 minutes of action is incredibly encouraging.

“He was probably playing the best basketball of his life at that point,” Nurse said. “And of course [injuries have] has certainly changed the course of our team and his career since then. And we’re still working on working him back up from there, and I think we’re making progress on that now. I think he’s looking and playing better and better, so keep it up.”

Odds and ends

Some additional notes:

• Adem Bona almost certainly had this match on his agenda, as he worked with Rockets star Alperen for many years Şengün in international play for Turkey. They won silver in EuroBasket last summer, which Bona said was an immensely valuable experience before his second NBA season.

“It was great. I mean, we’ve been sharing the basketball court for a long time, since we were quite young. Since we were 16, 15, we’ve been playing against each other and with each other,” Bona said in September. “And to be able to take that all the way to the biggest stage of international basketball in Europe, that was really exciting.”

• So did Jabari Walker, who said after shootaround he was eager to defend Durant, a player he looked up to. Walker has a good relationship with Durant, he said; they share a trainer and train together in the offseason. Walker likes to test himself against the game’s elite players. Also…

“If you play good defense,” Walker said, “he’ll compliment you. That’s rare. So it makes you want to play even harder so you get that compliment.”

Next: The Sixers’ six-game home stretch comes to an end Saturday when they host the New York Knicks.

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