VJ EDGECOMBE PLAYS BASKETBALL AGAIN! | Philadelphia 76ers vs Charlotte Hornets Preview

VJ EDGECOMBE PLAYS BASKETBALL AGAIN! | Philadelphia 76ers vs Charlotte Hornets Preview

What’s going on everyone? Welcome on into NZY for three Sixers preview as we are diving into the 76ers second game of the season against the Charlotte Hornets. This time in South Philadelphia where the Philly faithful get to see Tyrese Maxi and VJ Edgecom play together for the first time this season at home. It should be a blast. And the Sixers are coming off a ridiculous win against the Celtics in what is one of the best games I’ve ever seen as a 76ers fan. And this has been one of the best openings to an NBA season of all time. Each game, it seems like, have been going down to the wire and have been a blast from an entertainment standpoint. And I cannot wait for the rest of the season to play out, especially with how excited Sixers fans are right now. suspect and for good reason. As in this preview video, we are going to go over game two of Tyrese Maxi and VJ Edgecomb, what they’re going to look like. We’re going to give our takeaways from the lineups Nick Nurse was running against the Celtics and how that is going to change against the Hornets. We’re going to go gloss over the real concerns that the Sixers have with their front court and their lackluster performance on opening night. Then we’re going to go delve into the Hornets high octane offense, what they have embraced uh as of late with their new revamped roster and some intriguing young pieces. And we’re then we have the showdown of the third overall pick, VJ Edgecomb going up against Khan Canipple, the fourth overall pick. Let’s not waste any more time. Hit that like and subscribe button if you’re new around here. But let’s get right into it. Of course, we need to start out by talking about Tyrese Maxi and VJ Edgecomb. The Sixers electrifying young duo that put up 74 points against the Celtics drain 12 threes together. They looked like Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson in their prime. I’m going to go out and say it. I’m go out and say that the Sixers, it was the Sixers win against the Celtics was a flatout carry job. You know, this VJ Edgecom and Tyresese Maxi, they are uh really changing the culture of this team. They are spearheading the next era of Sixers basketball. You could have swore that they were fiery trail marks on the court after with how fast they were playing. It was fantastic. And the fact that Maxi and VJ, they were playing with as much team chemistry at this point of the season, the first game of the season. They were all they it was like they were their minds were connected and they were feeding off each other on so many possessions. I mean, three out of six of Maxi’s assists, they were off VJ Buckets. I mean, two of them were threes from VJ with Anthony Simons. Simons was disrespecting VJ from the perimeter. He was glancing at Maxi the entire time and Maxi was like, “All right, Rook, I trust you. Go let it fly from three.” And that’s what VJ did. He drained those threes and then Maxi’s third assist off of V uh with a VJ bucket was a cut where Maxi, he was able to knife his way to the basket. VJ recognized that, recognized that the Celtics defense was completely collapsed on Maxi. I mean, so many times the Celtics defense, they were just glancing at Maxi, taking their eyes off their man. And that that’s great to see Maxi finally get some respect from these NBA defenses. VJ recognize that. goes right to the uh down the baseline and Maxi goes and finds him on a slick bounce pass. I mean, the fact that Maxi and VJ, they are both basketball maniacs. They live and breathe the game of basketball. VJ talks about how he he just watches basketball all day. Maxis always in the gym. We see the Sixers finally prioritize youth and speed and they are the physical embodiment of that. and the 76ers offense that is going to come out of Maxi and VJ and the way they operate together. What stood out to me the most in that Celtics game was Nick Nurse prioritizing Tyrese Maxi as an offball scorer. I mean, we’ve seen that when you know James Horn was on the team. Maxi was playing some of the most efficient basketball of his career because he didn’t have to take on the majority of the playmaking responsibilities. H I mean, of course, VJ is nowhere near the playmaker that James Harden is, but still having a competent ball handling guard, you know, bringing the ball up and allowing Maxi to run off of screens and cut to the basket and sometimes even run his own isolation plays. Maxi, he he he’s improved a lot as an onball creator. We saw that against the Celtics. He can definitely, you know, run the offense at times, but having that option, having Maxi be maximized to be, no pun intended, what he is as a scorer. Another key aspect from last game that you need to be on the lookout for are the rotations. Now Nick Nurse, he was doing a lot of experimenting with the lineups and what we learned from the Celtics game was that when the Sixers are playing small, when they are playing with three guards in the lineup, they are more effective and they are able to hold their own. I mean the Sixers in the fourth quarter in the last three minutes or so they ran the lineup of Maxi, VJ Grimes, Kelly Ubé, and Don Barlo to close the game. You barely you barely saw Embiid. You didn’t see Abona and you had Jabari Walker playing center in spurts in the fourth as well. The Sixers and Nick Nurse. Nick Nurse, he embraced Tyresese Maxi and VJ Edgecom. He knew that if the Sixers were going to win that game, they needed to embrace their play style. And that’s that that was shown the most in the lineups that were being played. When Maxi Grimes and Edgecom were sharing the court together, they had some really productive lineups. They were plus three when they were paired with Barlo and Walker. They were plus seven when uh with with Barllo and Bona and plus eight with UB and Barlo. That was the lineup to go and close the game. And what we saw from the Celtics matchup was that you cannot have two non-shooters on the court unless you have three fantastic floor spacers. I mean Barlo and Walker, they are non-shooters, but you had Maxi Grimes and Edgecom who are on fire from three. So you were able to go and hide those weaknesses. They were not able to do that when they were running uh line I mean the lineup right here with Maxi, Edgecom, UB, Barlo and Embiid. They were not they were minus4 because UB and Barlo can’t shoot. Embiid was horrible from deep. He was horrible the entire game and all the defensive pressure was being focused on Maxi and Edgecom. The Sixers cannot constantly have two non-shooters on the court unless they play three guards. And when they are playing three guards, they got a lot more floor spacing and they could also close out on threes more. Dominic Barlo, he was playing the center to close the game. And although he he he is fast enough to close out on threes and the Sixers had some great stops against the Celtics in the fourth, he still prefers to play drop coverage. And it it was really confusing that the Celtics stopped running pick and rolls with Kada. He was getting some easy baskets gliding to the rim. The Sixers were being were just lost on the defensive end of the floor at times in that game. And of course, you had Tyresese Maxi dropping 15 points in the quarter. And they did shoot seven for 10 from deep in the fourth. So, it’s going to it’s going to be hard to replicate those amazing uh crunchtime performances, but you cannot have those non-shooters. You need to embrace Tyrese Maxi and VJ Edgecomb and Quentyn Grimes, especially when you had Paula George and Jerry McCain out of the game. We should expect that more. The Sixers, they showed that they are going to put their trust in their young back court. Even with Josh Green and Grant Williams out, the Hornets put on an offensive clinic against the Nets, dropping 136 points, 60 points in the paint. Shot 17 for 36 from deep, 47% from three, had nine players with over 10 points, meaning that it’s no longer the LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller show. They’re going to get players on this team involved. It’s going to be a team effort and there are multiple players on that Hornets team that are going to give you problems if you are lazy and do not defend them properly. All things considered, the Sixers approach to the Hornets will be similar to the Celtics. And that gleeds into the transition of the keys to the game. The Sixers, if they are going to succeed against the Hornets, they need to swarm the perimeter. They cannot let them get hot from three. They had multiple players who are volume three-point shooters. They didn’t have, you know, the most uh appealing percentages, but still they can get hot. They are going to be able to torch you. And rebounding will again be a huge factor in this game. We need more than three rebounds from Bona. We need more than six rebounds from Embiid. They need to be able to dominate the glass cuz the Hornets, they got Kulk Brener who’s 7 feet tall. They got Dybate who’s 6’11. So, they can really get you on the glass. And if they keep getting these offensive rebounds, getting these easy easy hustle points, combine that with their fast break offense, they will be able to pile on the lead against the Sixers, especially if they get hot from three. So, you need to make sure that you’re securing these defensive possessions. We might see lineups where Embiid is being played alongside Don Barlo or Jabari Walker. Definitely not Bona because it just has not seemed like Nurse has wanted to play Embiid and Bona together. I mean in the first game even with the you know in the preseason we saw that you know him experimenting but at the end of the day that might have just been preseason and we did not see Embiid and Bona share the floor once and be the most of the time he was getting with the power forwards it was with Bona uh it was with Jabari Walker or Don Barlo. So, expect maybe some more floor spacing, have that three guard lineup in there alongside those two, and maybe have them maximize spacing even more by having the three guard lineup and maybe have Kelly Ubé play the power forward position next to Embiid. And if they’re able to do that, they can swarm the perimeter more. And you could just hope that Embiid is able to go out and not get cooked so much in the pick and roll and in the interior. The Hornets, they did show that they can get a lot of points in the paint as well. So, you got to make sure that you are communicating defensively and not overhelping and not allowing them to cut to the basket. Limit those offensive rebounds as well. We cannot stress that enough. On the offensive side of the ball, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Keep sticking with Maxi VJ. Go right out with them. Make sure you’re getting out in transition, getting those easy transition points, that you’re getting those hustle points as well. Don Barlo, Jabari Walker, keep crashing the glass, getting those offensive rebounds, those putbacks maybe off of a missed three or something. Go make sure you are applying pressure on the Hornets, not making anything easy for them and also try to attack the basket as much as possible. Be relentless and be physical. As Kulkr Bunner, he had four fouls in his debut. He showed a lot of promise as a rim protector, but he is not much of an athlete and he can be late to rotations and can be caught in positions where he can be called for the foul because he’s not in the proper defensive position, not being, you know, all the way upright. You could get him fouled out of the game and he is a major piece for the Hornets this season. So having him out will give you a huge advantage. So Edgecom and Maxi, we all know they are very much accustomed to blitzing their way to the basket. So you got to make sure that you are putting as much rim pressure on the Hornets as possible. And that is what the Sixers are going to be looking to do as they try and get their second win of the season. I am hyped up, man, to see this team play once again. This time at home in South Philly should be a blast. I’m sure of it. And uh yeah, man. We’ll release a postgame video after the game. Stay tuned for that. Let’s hope the Sixers get this W. VJ Edgecom, another masterclass incoming. You hear her heard here first on NZ for three. I’ll catch youall in the next one. Peace.

The 76ers are looking to carry their momentum into Saturday night vs the Charlotte Hornets. Rookie sensation VJ Edgecombe will make his debut in South Philly. NZ gives his thoughts on what fans should expect coming into the second game of the season, from the promising backcourt of VJ and Maxey to potential lineup adjustments . #sixers #76ers #vjedgecombe #tyresemaxey #joelembiid #nba