Tyrese Maxey and Guerschon Yabusele power Sixers’ 109-103 win over the Washington Wizards

The product inside the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday was the result of load management, injuries, and tanking.

The contest was exciting, but the 76ers and Washington Wizards were both shells of themselves in a game far from the NBA standard. It will go down as a 109-103 victory that improved the Sixers’ record to 15-20 and dropped the Wizards to 6-29.

Tyrese Maxey and Guerschon Yabusele were the difference in this one.

Maxey finished with 29 points, six assists, and three rebounds. Twenty-one of his points came after intermission. He scored five of the Sixers’ final eight points.

“Obviously, he didn’t have it early,” coach Nick Nurse said of Maxey scoring eight points on 3-for-13 shooting in the first half. “He was getting tons of looks and just couldn’t knock them down. But obviously in the second half he did really great, and made some huge plays down the stretch.”

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Meanwhile, Yabusele added 21 points while making 5 of 7 three-pointers to go with eight rebounds, three assists, and two blocks.

The Sixers squandered a 15-point fourth-quarter advantage. And the Wizards took a two-point lead on Corey Kispert’s three-pointer with 4 minutes, 25 seconds remaining.

“It was some weird stuff that happened,” Maxey said of the Sixers blowing the lead. “I think they like third quarters, they kind of let me play a little free. I made some shots, made some plays. They trapped me [in the fourth quarter]. I got the ball out a little bit, sometimes a little bit too late.

“So we had shots later in the shot clock. Guys didn’t have enough time to do things, so we didn’t have great possessions off after that. But I mean, we found a way to win the game.”

After Kispert’s go-ahead basket, Kelly Oubre Jr. responded with a dunk on the ensuing possession to knot the score at 98.

Former Sixer Richaun Holmes split a pair of foul shots with 3:21 left to give the Wizards a one-point lead. After a Wizards three-pointer, Eric Gordon responded with a three with 2:16 remaining to tie the game at 101. Maxey’s layup with 23.7 seconds gave the Sixers a 105-103 lead.

On the ensuing possession, Yabusele blocked Washington’s Bilal Coulibaly’s layup, stuffing his fellow Frenchman before swapping jerseys after the game. Maxey grabbed the rebound and got the ball to Gordon, who made one of two foul shots to put the Sixers up three.

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“I know Coulibaly personally,” Yabusele said. “When I see him taking his dribble, I knew he was trying to go past me and try to get the layup. I just had a good feeling. I was trying to bump him a little bit to make him lose his balance. You know, I was able to get the block.”

After Maxey added a foul shot, Yabusele’s emphatic dunk was wiped out for a foul. He then hit a pair to put the Sixers up six with 7.6 seconds left. The Sixers ended the game with an 11-2 run.

“It was very emotional, I think,” Maxey said. “We did a really good job. I think the first three quarters of kind of just extending our lead, extending our lead. And in the early fourth quarter we lost the lead and got back in and lost the lead a little bit more. Some controversial stuff happened, but to regain focus and win the game that was good for us.”

And some of the announced 19,762 in attendance got to see it at a bargain. Tickets in the Assembly Room of the arena were $1 with fees on StubHub. Tickets could be purchased for $8 plus fees in section 118 and $4 plus fees in sections 206 and 219.

A lot of that has to do with some the teams’ stars being sidelined.

The Sixers’ Joel Embiid (sprained left foot), Paul George (left groin tightness), Kyle Lowry (right hip soreness), KJ Martin (left foot stress reaction), Jared McCain (left knee meniscus surgery), and Andre Drummond (left toe sprain) were out with injuries.

The Wizards were without Jordan Poole (left hip contusion), Malcom Brogdon (right foot pain), Marvin Bagley (right knee sprain), Saddiq Bey (left knee ACL surgery), Tristan Vukčević (right ankle sprain), Johnny Davis (non-COVID illness), and Alex Sarr (non-COVID illness).

The Sixers will host New Orleans on Friday at 7 p.m. (NBCSP). The Pelicans dropped to 7-31 after Wednesday night’s setback to the Portland Trail Blazers.