March 11, 2026, 5:31 a.m. ET
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers were able to earn a much-needed 139-129 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night despite missing the likes of Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and Paul George. The Sixers kept pace with the Miami Heat as they are still just 1.5 games back of Miami for the No. 6 seed as they look to move forward.
The Sixers were led by Cam Payne who had 32 points and 10 assists and knocked down eight 3s off the bench, Kelly Oubre Jr. had 30 points and 11 rebounds, and VJ Edgecombe had 21 points, five rebounds, and five assists in his return. Quentin Grimes had 22 points and Trendon Watford had 11 points, four rebounds, and two assists.
Here are the three biggest takeaways following the win over the Grizzlies:
Payne makes history
Payne gave the Sixers a huge lift in this one. With so much offense on the sidelines in this one, somebody had to step up and give this team a real lift in that area of the game. In this instance, it was Payne as he shot 9-for-10 from the floor, a perfect 8-for-8 from deep, and 6-for-6 from the foul line. The eight 3s are the most in Sixers history without a miss and it was the big reason why the Sixers were able to walk away with a win on Tuesday.
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Coach Nick Nurse on Payne’s night:
I mean, 8-for-8, OK, that’s really good, right? That’s a little bit special, but he’s kind of capable of doing that. When he gets going, he has, you guys remember, he has some nights where he’ll make four out of five. He’s a little streaky that way, but when he gets rolling, he can do that. I thought, obviously, was really feeling it, because a couple of those were really deep and just kind of like, and we were running a little double, kind of sweeping double screen set for him, and he wasn’t even in the play, hardly on one or two of them, pulled behind them and made them, so he was obviously feeling it. I thought he made a couple other good plays, too, on drives. He drew some contact there a little bit, got to the free-throw line a couple of critical times. We had draw-ups and kind of cleared out a lane for him to drive, and he went down, and at least either made the bucket or got fouled. So, he played really, really good, and then we finally figured out a couple of defensive schemes there in the fourth that could keep some of these guys in front of us, and rebound a couple. Rebounding was tough tonight.
Edgecombe returns to the floor
The rookie guard returned after missing three games due to a lumbar contusion and he had a very nice return. He shot 7-for-15 from the floor and 6-for-6 from the line while stuffing the box score in a number of ways. It was a slow start for him as he looked a bit rusty, but the rookie drove the paint for a dunk and then knocked down a 3. He was then able to figure out that Grizzlies defense and give the Sixers a big lift. He is going to need to keep this going amid the injuries to the team’s stars. He gave an update on his back after the win.
“My back feels great,” Edgecombe explained. “Credit medical. Thank God. Thank God it was nothing too serious. My back feels great. I’m able to move the same. It felt weird running that fast for the first time, but as time went on, I just felt back to normal.”
Dalen Terry provides a lift
When one sees Terry only had five points and shot 2-for-3 from the floor, one isn’t going to come away impressed, but he was a plus-23 in 21:58 on the floor. He was terrific for the Sixers on the defensive end as he went to work. He bothered Grizzlies guard Ty Jerome as well as battling physical forward GG Jackson II, and others. His physicality and his defensive work was a big impact for the Sixers and he received a lot of praise from Nurse after the win.
“It was just a defensive decision,” Nurse explained. “We had a couple choices. We wanted to put him on GG, a little bit, and then we wanted to put him on Jerome a little bit, too. Again, I think we figured out a little bit better coverages for those guys, and he just worked his tail off. He just got through screens and chased and played hard and bothered him, knocked the ball away a little bit, and it was just kind of like that. It was the group that was rolling, and he was part of the defensive group of that, and even had a couple little—he had five points. A put back, hit a 3. He made some plays.”