Sixers match Suns shove for shove, then gain win over Phoenix

Sometimes when you aren't careful, the next to last game of a long road trip can become a time when the thoughts of returning home creep into tired minds. Focus can get somewhat lost and, before you know it, so can that game.

The Phoenix Suns didn't let the Sixers' minds wander at all Saturday night, as they thought a chippy type of game was their best chance to upend a team that had won five of the past six. But all their pushing and shoving and trash-talking did was ensure Philadelphia locked into the fourth game of the five-game trip, and fought, almost literally, to a 109-103 win. The Sixers have ensured themselves of a winning road trip, as they now are 3-1 on this trip with the last game Monday at the Portland Trail Blazers.

When it comes to winning on the road, so many factors can come into play. Saturday, the Suns starting the game hitting just one of their first 18 three-pointers certainly helped, as did the play, again, of Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. Embiid recorded 33 points and nine rebounds, while hitting four of seven threes, and Maxey collected 29 points, nine rebounds and six assists. The two combined to score 16 of the team's 34 points in the second quarter that propelled them to an 11-point lead at the break. They did it while coach Nick Nurse staggered their time on the floor.

"Yeah, that was the big thing," said Nurse to reporters following the game. "I think what we did right was we got stops and we rebounded everything and got out a little bit. The pace of the game changed for about six minutes there. We were doing it at both ends. I think the defense and rebounding is what got them going. Tyrese knows that's his time to create some offense for himself and his teammates."

Embiid — who, like many Sixers throughout the night, scrapped repeatedly with Dillon Brooks — has averaged 33.1 points over his last 10, and put in another hefty 33 minutes in Phoenix. Kelly Oubre, Jr., who roomed with Brooks in high school, also had words with his former teammate before finishing the night with 18 points and six rebounds.

"It happens," said Maxey of the extracurricular aspects of the game to reporters in the locker room. "We kind of had the same situation in the Lakers game. Like, we get up early in the third and we can't take our foot off the gas. The game gets kind of weird. You start getting some fouls called, different stuff like that. They get physical, we have to sustain and stay professional and play the right way and win those games. We did a good job of that tonight. We didn't let all the rah-rah stuff, we didn't let it phase us. We got physical back, and that's good, we can take that."

They took it, gave it back, and ended up improving their record to 30-22, just a half-game behind the third spot in the East.

With the happenings of the past week — including the suspension of Paul George and the trade of Jared McCain — Nurse and the team are still trying to find out who they are. Dominick Barlow was tremendous in the first three games of the road trip from his starting spot, but Saturday it was Trendon Watford off the bench who supplied a huge spark for the team, particularly in the end when he played the whole fourth and contributed four points, four rebounds, two blocks and an assist.

"He's become a little bit more important now with what the roster is," said Nurse of Watford. "When one of those guys gets in foul trouble he's got to be another ball handler. I thought he did a good job. He's starting to show a little bit of toughness, kind of standing up to some of his physicality out there and stuff. Versatile enough to bring it and post, go from one extreme to the other on offense. He seems to fit pretty well with Joe, just because of his passing and his spacing and things like that."

The regulars know the role players have become even more important since the deletion of George and McCain from the team. Maxey, who is becoming more and more of a leader for the club every day, knows it and addresses it.

"The biggest thing for us, he can handle the ball," Maxey said of Watford. "He's a connector and we needed that for a long time, I think. He does a good job of handling the ball. He can play a pick-and-roll, he can post. He doesn't understand it yet, he hasn't played in the playoffs, but those little possessions where we can throw it to him in the post or he can bring the ball up and play pick-and-roll, they're going to be needed.

"This is what I explained to him. This is really his first time being on a playoff team. This is a team that's trying to make the playoffs. I said, 'Listen, rotations change, stuff changes every single day on a playoff team. Respect is only guaranteed for four players that are going to play the same minutes every night, maybe even three sometimes. Your number will be called. It's inevitable. You need everybody to win games.'"

While still learning who they are and how they may fit into Nurse's system, the team did prove to themselves that they aren't about to be bullied by anyone.

"Any good team, or any team that's playing for something, they're not going to just let you steamroll them," said Maxey. "They are going to go out there and put up a fight. And sometimes, you have to get more physical and you have to sustain that lead and we did a good job of that. You just have to play through it. You'll get calls, sometimes you won't. I feel I got fouled a couple of times, but it's okay. You just keep going through it and you figure it out."

The focus now shifts to Monday in Portland and then a home game against the New York Knicks on Wednesday before embarking on the All-Star Break. If their minds started to wander even a little bit beyond the game in front of them, the Sixers may want to thank Phoenix for shoving them back into place.