PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers welcomed Paul George back to the floor in Monday’s 110-108 win over the Los Angeles Clippers as they look to reintegrate him back into things on the floor. He finished with nine points and seven rebounds in 21 minutes of playing time in his first game back since March 4.

George was able to get on the floor with rookie guard VJ Edgecombe for the first time. George was high on Edgecombe heading into the draft and was impressed after playing with the No. 3 overall pick on the floor for the first time.

“Good. Great, man,” George said of Edgecombe. “He can hoop. He always seems to make a timely, timely basket in the fourth quarter. It’s been like that every game that he’s made a timely basket. So, he’s got a tremendous confidence, but he reminds me of me of just letting the game come to you and picking and choosing when to attack and be aggressive.”

Edgecombe is one of those rare players who shows off a real maturity for the game as a 20-year-old. He had five points, four rebounds, and three assists in the fourth quarter as he made some big plays to help the Sixers rally and win the game.

“You don’t see that a lot, for a guy to be comfortable that soon and know when to assert themselves that early into their careers,” George added. “A lot of guys are chaotic and all over the place, but he just, he has a veteran kind of poise and clock to be assertive so it’s special.”

To George’s point, Edgecombe had a bit of an up-and-down night. He had seven points, a rebound, and an assist at halftime before a talk from coach Nick Nurse at halftime woke him up a bit as he had seven points, five rebounds, and five assists in the second half including the big plays in the fourth.

“I had real up and down emotional night with him,” Nurse said. “I thought he was out of a lot of plays I was getting, and got on him pretty good at halftime. I thought he was being unassertive. He had lanes to drive and wasn’t taking them, and when he did, he took them slowly, but he made some huge plays down the stretch. Ran down a long rebound, hit a big 3, like, played some great D, he made some plays that I’m not sure anybody else we got can make, right? So that’s huge for him to hang in there, take a little stern coaching, and keep on playing and make some plays at the end.”

George and Edgecombe will look to grow together when the Sixers take on the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday.