After spending almost a year jockeying for positioning in the East and finding their way as a team, the Philadelphia 76ers already know the path they will be taking on in the postseason, and everything will start with the play-in tournament for them. At seventh place, they will get two chances at sneaking into the playoffs, where they will then face one of the top-two squads in the conference.
But right before they head into the play-in, the 76ers actually received a gift that could end up paying dividends moving forward in the form of Justin Edwards, who might actually receive minutes in the postseason. And their final regular season game ended up being a nice finishing touch to his impressive stretch to end the campaign.
In just 22 minutes of gameplay, Edwards dinished with 17 points built on 5-8 shooting from beyond the arc together with four steals. This is basically a strong audition piece that he sent out to the Nick Nurse and the coaching staff as the 76ers figure out what their go-to rotation will look like moving forward.
The 76ers just got the version of Justin Edwards they badly need
Edwards has had issues staying consistent this season, which was a huge bummer given that he had a remarkable rookie season considering that he came in as an undrafted rookie just trying to earn his keep. A brutal shooting slump and a deeper pool of forwards, however, made it especially hard for him to keep his spot in the rotation.
Be that as it may, the sophomore seems to have found lightning in a bottle as of late. Since March, Edwards has averaged 9.2 points per games on 50 percent shooting from the field and 43.3 percent from three-point territory, displaying a lot of steadiness off the bench as a floor spacer and a rangier presence on the wings.
Paul George and Kelly Oubre Jr. will be soaking up the majority of the minutes at the forward positions, but with Edwards’ play since last month, the 76ers are going to be incentivized to keep handing him minutes to help bolster the second unit.
A touch over a month-long upsurge might not be enough to dispel what has otherwise been a season-long struggle, but Justin Edwards is sure managing to take up space and make the fans feel his worth at the perfect time. Hopefully, he can keep delivering when his number gets called in the postseason.