PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers were able to earn a rather impressive 109-103 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday. Despite, once again, missing so many key pieces, the Sixers were able to rally together to beat a pretty talented Blazers team who beat them pretty good back on Feb. 9 in Portland.
Quentin Grimes had a season-high 31 points for Philadelphia, VJ Edgecombe had 18 points and 12 rebounds, and Justin Edwards had 21 points. Dominick Barlow added 11 points, Cam Payne had 11 points, and Andre Drummond added six points, 17 rebounds, and four steals.
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Here are the three biggest takeaways following the win:
Edwards doing it on both ends
Mar 15, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Justin Edwards (11) dunks past Portland Trail Blazers center Robert Williams III (35) during the second half at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
There was a lot of good things done by Edwards on Sunday as he provided a big lift for the Sixers on both ends. He shot 9-for-14 from the floor and 3-for-5 from deep in an effort to give Philadelphia some offensive production on a night it continues to miss so many key pieces and he also had two steals. It felt like he had more than that as he was terrific on the defensive end of the floor. When Edwards is on a roll on the offensive end as he was in this one at all three levels, it makes one helluva difference for Philadelphia and everybody knows it.
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“He kind of makes the game easy,” Grimes said. “He simplifies the game. I mean, he gets to his spots easy out there on the court. So, I mean, when he shoots the mid-range, it’s not a bad shot for him. We encourage him to be aggressive. He likes a shot, gets it all the way to the rim, 3-ball, he wants the middy, to be aggressive. I think an aggressive Justin is great for us, for sure.”
Slowing down Deni Avdija
Mar 15, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija (8) drives to the basket and is fouled by Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Martin (23) during the first half at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
Portland’s All-Star had 25 points, nine assists, and six rebounds, but the Sixers held him in check for the most part. Avdija shot only 2-for-12 on 3-pointers and 7-for-19 overall. When he got into the paint, he was effective as he shot 9-for-11 from the free-throw line, but guys like Edwards, Barlow, Grimes, and MarJon Beauchamp deserve credit for how they were able to stay in front of him and bother him on this night.
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Coach Nick Nurse on the defense on Avdija:
Our guys did a good job, I thought, of just really working on him. I mean, he’s so fast. Like, he’s like, end-to-end. He’s gotta be right up there in the league when he gets it 70 feet away, and it’s at the rim so fast. Most of it’s going to the right. So we were trying to do a pretty good job of shading him and trying to cut him off there. We did some stuff tonight we don’t normally do. We shot the gap a little bit more and tried to meet him on the other side of screens and and we were going to kind of see if we could live with some of his pull behind the screen 3s until maybe that wasn’t right, but it seemed to be a good deal. I just thought our bigs were very good at being able to get out and show a little presence and then get back and not give up too much behind them.
Edgecombe coming up large
Mar 15, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Vj Edgecombe (77) drives to the basket agains Portland Trail Blazers guard Jrue Holiday (5) during the second half at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
It shouldn’t be a huge surprise at this point, but Edgecombe once again shook off an overall tough night shooting the ball and came up large down the stretch. He shot just 8-for-18 overall on the night, but he did knock down some dagger jumpers over the outstretched arms of Portland’s Scoot Henderson and Toumani Camara. Both players are elite defenders and Edgecombe was able to come up with some tough buckets over both defenders to really put this game away. It was really some imrpessive stuff.
“That shot, I mean, it was a tough one,” said Nurse. “It was obviously a huge one, but he is able to kind of get to places, and he’s got the combination of some space. He kind of gets up in the air and gets back so we get can get him off. He’s kind of been doing stuff like that all year. I mean, I know that was probably one of his better shots, but that kid can take it to a spot and bolt up and get a shot off, which is invaluable in this league, especially tough games.”
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This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: 3 biggest takeaways for Sixers following home win over Trail Blazers