Sunday stats: Sixers succeeding with small ball, Adem Bona blocking everything and Justin Edwards slumping
Perhaps the only statistic Sixers fans are concerned with right now is 4-1, the team’s record through a five-game stretch to begin the season that has incited enormous excitement around a team many expected to cause more misery.
But how did the Sixers win their first four games and nearly complete a 24-point comeback to make it five on Friday night?
This is not a perfect team, but Sixers head coach Nick Nurse has done a stellar job early on juggling a roster with multiple key injuries and not a whole lot of balance. He is finding the right puzzle pieces so far, with some major reinforcements eventually on the way.
In this week’s Sunday stats, it’s a look at a pair of factors behind the Sixers’ strong start to the year and one disappointing member of Nurse’s rotation:
+53
The Sixers’ point differential in 53 minutes with Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Quentin Grimes and Kelly Oubre Jr. all sharing the floor.
Three of the five best players on this team, as currently constructed, are guards. Jared McCain is on his way. It was obvious from the jump that Nurse would have to make three-guard lineups one of the core looks of his rotation. But sliding Oubre up to a small-ball power forward role was not something Nurse had planned on doing.
Yet the Sixers have been dominant on both ends of the floor with their high-caliber guard trio of Maxey, Edgecombe and Grimes playing alongside Oubre and virtually any center. Their Net Rating (point differential per 100 possessions) is a gargantuan +46.9 with that grouping, with elite numbers on offense (138.5 Offensive Rating) and defense (91.6 Defensive Rating). The sample remains small, so raw plus/minus is a better indicator than per-100-possession numbers right now, but all of the statistics back up the eye test on this one: the Sixers have really found something here.
What makes it such an effective look? On Friday night, Maxey said the amount of preparation the team did before the season to familiarize itself with that specific three-guard combination has paid dividends. He also highlighted the value of having so much shooting and up-tempo ball-handling on the floor at once:
Just as Grimes is the key to making three-guard lineups work by proving capable of defending wings, Oubre is the key to making these even-smaller units passable by standing his ground against even bigger matchups. Oubre fears no opponent or assignment, and his two-way contributions early on this season have been nothing short of fantastic.
5.0
Adem Bona’s blocks per 36 minutes through five games in 2025-26, the second-highest figure in the NBA.
Adem Bona laughed on Thursday when asked about Embiid making a comment after Bona’s five-block closing effort in a comeback win over the Wizards on Tuesday. Embiid told reporters that night that Bona was the second-best defensive player in the NBA, only trailing Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs.
“He actually said that to me in the locker room, too,” Bona said.
Well, after the Sixers’ fifth game of the season on Friday, the NBA leaders in blocks per 36 minutes looked like this:
PlacePlayerBlocks per 36 minutes1Victor Wembanyama5.12Adem Bona5.0
After failing to record a block in the Sixers’ first game of the year, Bona has collected 11 rejections across the next four contests (66 minutes). The five that came in Washington grabbed headlines, but Bona is legitimately one of the single best shot-blockers in the NBA:
After not swatting any shots on opening night, Adem Bona has collected 11 blocks in 66 minutes over his last four games. All 11 of Bona’s rejections during the first five games of his second NBA season: pic.twitter.com/Y1gsBAKYmK
— Adam Aaronson’s clips (@SixersAdamClips) November 1, 2025
Asked about Bona’s slow start to the season, Nurse said the second-year center has to be more of a force as a shot-blocker around the rim. He is right; Bona does not have much offensive utility and is not a great rebounder for a center. This is his signature skill. And hours after Nurse’s comments, Bona swatted three shots against the Orlando Magic and altered a bunch of other attempts around the rim. Nurse was pleased:
Asked Nick Nurse about Adem Bona before last night’s Sixers win. He said Bona needed to be more imposing as a shot-blocker.
Asked Nurse about Bona after the game:
“Pretty good. He had 17 blocks tonight, didn’t he? It felt like it.”
Both exchanges + Bona’s three blocks vs. ORL: pic.twitter.com/5l9p6qX5Er
— Adam Aaronson (@SixersAdam) October 28, 2025
Bona is not a perfect player, even on defense. Blocking shots and protecting the rim are not exactly the same thing; rejecting shots is only one of a center’s defensive responsibilities. But blocking shots at an all-world rate like Bona does makes it easier to turn into a high-quality rim protector regardless of effort, focus and execution.
Bona’s motor never stops, but his discipline will need to improve moving forward so he can cut down his exorbitant foul rates and become a viable option for major minutes within any individual game. But very few young centers have Bona’s baseline in terms of defensive production.
MORE: Sixers mount another comeback but drop NBA Cup opener to Celtics
38.9
Justin Edwards’ field goal percentage across five appearances (58 minutes) in 2025-26.
Sharing the floor with a bunch of high-usage players is a blessing and a curse in how it simplifies things for role players like the 21-year-old Edwards. So much of the value of someone in a spot like his simply boils down to spot-up shot-making.
Eric Gordon, the Sixers’ reserve veteran guard, is an example of someone who built a career out of treating such an opportunity like a blessing. His on-ball skills have diminished as he has aged, and he is not a defensive stopper. But over the years, when Gordon’s role was largely reduced to spot-up shooting, not many NBA players were in roles that fit their abilities better.
The downside of this simplicity, though, is that when shots are not falling, the role player looks brutal.
Exhibit A: the start to Edwards’ second NBA season, in which he has struggled as a shooter. Edwards has Nurse’s complete faith as a versatile chess piece of sorts on defense. The Philadelphia native has embraced crashing the glass at a higher rate. His feel for the game is strong and he makes quick decisions. But it is hard to separate all of that from stretches like this one:
So much of Justin Edwards’ value to this Sixers team will be determined by his spot-up three-point shooting. Edwards missed three great looks late in the first quarter of Friday’s game vs. Boston: pic.twitter.com/PTyxS3p0LG
— Adam Aaronson’s clips (@SixersAdamClips) November 1, 2025
Edwards recently acknowledged that separating process from result has been one of his stronger growth points since joining the NBA as an undrafted two-way signee last year. Despite the lackluster results so far and some uneasiness from fans, Edwards remains extremely confident. Take that for whatever it is worth.
“I’ve just got to control what I can control,” Edwards said after the Sixers’ shootaround on Friday morning. “It’s a long, long season. Just got to keep putting reps in and when my name is called, I just go out there and do what I can do.”
MORE: What will Sixers look like with Paul George, Jared McCain healthy?
Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam
Follow PhillyVoice on Twitter: @thephillyvoice
