A hurting VJ Edgecombe is able to lead Sixers to stunning win in Boston

BOSTON — Late in the first quarter on a missed Boston jumper, VJ Edgecombe soared high in the air to try and grab a rebound, tangled with teammate Kelly Oubre Jr. and the Celtics' Sam Hauser. 

Edgecombe's legs got taken out from under him and he landed hard on his butt, something he did earlier this year that caused him to miss three games. He limped off the court and headed to the Sixers locker room, his availability for the rest of the night in question.

It didn't take long for the rookie to return, as he started the second quarter. And it didn't take long for him to take over the game, as he scored 16 points in that quarter, en route to 30 points as the Sixers pulled a stunner of a win, 111-97. The Sixers outscored the Celtics 37-26 in that decisive second frame.

Somehow, after a 32-point blowout loss on Sunday, the Sixers found the energy, grit and ability to make shots they couldn't a couple of days earlier. Now, they find themselves in a desirable position heading home. Game 3 will be Friday at the Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Tyrese Maxey added 29 points for the Sixers, including the final daggers when Boston got close late in the fourth, while Paul George had 19 and Oubre contributed 12. Edgecombe also added 10 rebounds, becoming the youngest player to record 30 and 10 in the playoffs.

"He's been impressive all season long," said George of Maxey. "When you think about it, how he started his first NBA game in this building (34 points), I'm sure he was in a small group of players that did what he did on that opening night. And then to put a whole season together and get to this point where he's showcasing who he is and his abilities. I've been saying it all year long, he's far past a rookie and what a 20-year-old can do, it's just impressive. 30 and 10, but it's just what we needed in moments throughout this game where he took over and kind of just put us at ease."

VJ EDGECOMBE TONIGHT:

30 POINTS
10 REBOUNDS
2 STEALS
12/20 FG
6/10 3PT

A YOUNG SUPERSTAR HAS BEEN BORN pic.twitter.com/CUulXjnBOQ

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 22, 2026

His second quarter thrust life into a Sixers team that seemed so without it on Sunday and fell behind 26-13 to begin the game. But a hard Monday practice and long film session allowed them to find some answers. And the Celtics didn't help themselves much, with poor shooting, bad defensive switching and an inability to find any type of offensive rhythm.

"We just played much better team defense tonight," said coach Nick Nurse. "When any action, like say a pick and roll action was happening, a lot of times you're focused on the two people in it. But it's still a five man job to defend it. We just weren't moving, we weren't in the right stances, we just weren't in and out the other night and tonight we were. We made more basketball reads when it looked like something was about to happen, we had somebody closing down the gap a little bit. There wasn't near the amount of straight line drives tonight. They did get some drives, but every one of them were kind of slow and drew a couple people and contested at the rim, even though they did make a few." 

Edgecombe started the third quarter limping badly, as if the injury had stiffened up on him, and had to leave the game less than two minutes into the half. But he returned and when the Celtics cut the lead to three at 77-74, Edgecombe outscored the Celtics 7-3 the rest of the quarter for an 84-77 lead going into the final quarter.

"I think we knew where the shots were going to come from, where the help was going to be at," said Edgecombe. "We kept trusting each other. Everyone can make a play on the court, so we kept trusting each other. I was in a spot and they wanted me to shoot the ball and it wasn't going to be right if I didn't shoot the ball, so I had to shoot the ball, they were wide open shots."

And he drilled them. And so did the team, as the Sixers drained 17-of-39 from beyond the arc. The Celtics began the game by making five of their first 11 from deep, then missed 17 of their next 20 as the Sixers were able to cling to their lead they had built in the second quarter. The Celtics finished the night 13-of-50 from three.

You had the feeling throughout the Celtics were going to find themselves at some point and pull it out. That feeling grew larger in the fourth when Tatum hit a three and Brown made a mid-range jumper to cut the lead to two at 91-89. But Maxey answered with a pair of threes and the lead got to 97-89 with 5:05 to go.

"VJ did his job, he got us here," said Maxey. "They cut the lead to two and I said 'It's my time to close the game out.' So I did. We got Paul going early and they started throwing different things at him. We went up two when they cut the lead and I just put the game away." 

When the Sixers needed contributions from others, they got it. Oubre didn't make his first basket until the final minute of the first, then came up with multiple big shots. Justin Edwards started the fourth quarter with the Sixers leading by seven. After the Celtics quickly cut into the lead and gained a ton of momentum, Edwards calmly drained a three late in the shot clock and with 9:51 to go in the game for an 89-82 lead. 

And to think this tremendous win all started with a 13-point deficit and their star rookie headed to the locker room.

"We did a great job of taking that punch," said Nurse of the Celtics' early lead. "We were getting tremendous shots and we only had 13 points. I thought they were spectacular to start. They were flying, they were making everything, they were jumping over everybody for rebounds. I said, 'They're great right now and they're not going to be this great the whole game and let's just hang in there.'"

In the end, as long as (Edgecombe's) okay and comes out of this okay, it actually helped us because it gave us some time (for others). He ended up playing 35 minutes, probably five less than he would have. We had some good moments, we hung in there, whatever we did when he was out. So, it gave us some chance to get him off the floor a little bit and we were able to maintain what we were doing."

And thankfully he was able to return.

"I just landed on my back, but I'm good," Edgecombe said. "I was able to finish the game. I'm good. Ain't nothing wrong with me. I'm good."

No, Tuesday night, he was great.