Instant observations: VJ Edgecombe scores career-high 38 points in Sixers win over Kings

Here’s what I saw. A dominant VJ Edgecombe performance The undermanned Sixers put together an almost perfect quarter on offense to start this game. Dropping 45 points in 12 minutes is a feat against any team, so while we can all grumble about it being the Sacramento Kings, Philadelphia played inch-perfect basketball and lit up the home team to finally arrive on their trip out west.

Mercifully, VJ Edgecombe arrived ready to beat up Sacramento, bouncing back from a brutal showing in Denver and a pedestrian shooting stretch since Tyrese Maxey went down. Keeping him aggressive has been a minor Sixers problem lately, with Edgecombe starting slow and rarely pulling himself out of the funk, but he opened his account with a nifty pass-fake runner and settled the nerves four or five minutes into this game. From there, it was on.

Edgecombe pulled a three in early offense and cashed out, hit his second triple on a coverage bust for Kings in the right corner, and was relentless attacking the offensive glass, pulling down Sixers misses and creating a few fruitful second-chance possessions. It wouldn’t take long for Edgecombe to complete one of the highlights of his rookie season, rising to meet an Edwards lob in transition and throwing it down with one hand. But the bulk of his work was done with touch and finesse from the midrange, with the rookie operating with a special level of poise and pace there all night.

He hit a right-to-left pull-up reminiscent of the legendary Chris Paul, multiple baseline turnarounds that barely touched the net, and the free-throw line jumper was all cash, with Edgecombe consistently getting his shoulders square against fairly apathetic Kings defenders. It was the sort of game he never would have attempted to have at Baylor, built on a shot that his college coach effectively banned, but a flash of the style that could eventually turn him into a star. He even had an ode to DeMar DeRozan in the second half, using a pump fake from the midrange to draw Killian Hayes into a foul, with Edgecombe calmly banking the shot in off the glass and converting the three-point play at the free-throw line.