PHI 113, GSW 94: Edgecombe Leads PHI to Comfortable Win
Maya Chen
UX Designer ยท Golden State Warriors fan
Warriors Got Smoked, But These Bench Guys Made Bank
Final: 76ers 113, Warriors 94
Look, I'm gonna be real with you. This sucked to watch as a Warriors fan. Getting blown out at home by 19 points is not the vibe, especially when your entire roster looked like they were moving in slow motion for 48 minutes. But here's the thing about fantasy basketball, and I'm speaking from painful experience, sometimes the worst games for your team produce the most interesting fantasy narratives.
The 76ers came in desperate and hungry. The Warriors... didn't show up. That's the whole story right there.
Top Performers
| Player | ESPN FP | Yahoo FP | Tonight | Season Avg | +/- Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VJ Edgecombe | 53.0 | 47.9 | 25/7/7 | 15.1/5.3/4.3 | +9.9 |
| Trendon Watford | 35.0 | 34.1 | 16/8/3 | 6.0/3.4/2.6 | +10.0 |
| Gui Santos | 41.0 | 30.9 | 13/2/3 | 4.9/2.6/1.2 | +8.1 |
| Andre Drummond | 25.0 | 29.9 | 12/12/1 | 6.9/8.7/0.8 | +5.1 |
| Tyrese Maxey | 28.0 | 28.3 | 14/4/3 | 28.9/4.2/6.8 | -14.9 |
| Kelly Oubre Jr. | 26.0 | 27.7 | 15/6/3 | 14.2/4.6/1.5 | +0.8 |
| De'Anthony Melton | 25.0 | 27.2 | 10/6/6 | 11.6/2.9/2.3 | -1.6 |
| Pat Spencer | 26.0 | 23.3 | 13/4/3 | 5.3/2.1/2.9 | +7.7 |
| Quentin Grimes | 24.0 | 22.5 | 10/5/3 | 13.0/3.8/3.7 | -3.0 |
| Adem Bona | 25.0 | 22.4 | 11/7/0 | 4.1/4.0/0.2 | +6.9 |
VJ Edgecombe Just Announced Himself
VJ Edgecombe went absolutely nuclear for 47.9 Yahoo points on 11-20 shooting. That's 25/7/7 with 2 steals in 39 minutes, and I'm not exaggerating when I say this kid looked like he was playing a different sport than everyone else on the court. He was +9.9 points over his season average and was attacking the Warriors' defense relentlessly.
Here's what matters for your league: Edgecombe is averaging 15.1 PPG this season. Tonight he was 25. That's not a fluke performance born from garbage time either, he was in there the whole game getting 39 minutes. If he's on your waiver wire, it's too late to add him now, but he's someone to monitor hard. The ownership probably ticks up after this one.
The Bench Bounce
This is where it gets weird. The Warriors got absolutely destroyed, yet their bench actually produced fantasy value. Gui Santos hit 30.9 Yahoo points on just 26 minutes, going 5-7 from the floor with 3 threes. That's an efficient night for a dude averaging 4.9 PPG. Pat Spencer (26 min) dropped 23.3 Yahoo points with 13 points, 4 assists, and 3 threes. De'Anthony Melton got 27.2 Yahoo points off 6 assists in 23 minutes.
The story here? When your starters get blown out that badly, the bench gets run-out time. This isn't sustainable value. These are garbage-time minutes. Don't get cute trying to chase these performances. Dominick Barlow is getting added in leagues (ownership jumped 4.2% to 8.3%), and while he had a decent 21.7 Yahoo points tonight, he's not becoming a league-winner off one game where Philly was up 20.
Maxey Underperformed and That Matters
Tyrese Maxey finished with 28.3 Yahoo points on 14/4/3 shooting in 33 minutes. On paper that's decent, but he's averaging 28.9/4.2/6.8. He went -14.9 on scoring tonight and was minus 3.8 on assists. Yeah, the Warriors' defense had something to do with this (spoiler: the Warriors' defense was trash tonight anyway), but Maxey also just didn't get going early. When a team is blown out, it affects everyone's rhythm, even the star players.
Not panic time, but worth noting if you're considering moving him in a trade. One bad game doesn't rewrite his season, but teams that get blown out tend to see their best guys take fewer shots sometimes.
Andre Drummond's Rebounding Came Through
Andre Drummond went 12/12/1 in 29 minutes for 29.9 Yahoo points. He was +5.1 on scoring and +3.3 on rebounds. In a blowout game, he still grabbed 12 boards. That's All-Defensive Second Team territory right there (he literally made it last season), and those rebounding numbers are repeatable. He's not a league-changer, but he's solid value if you've got him rostered.
The Actual Problem
Gui Santos, Pat Spencer, De'Anthony Melton, and the entire Warriors starting lineup combined for total dysfunction. You can't win games when your All-NBA Second Team option (Stephen Curry apparently didn't play based on the box score showing 0 minutes) is out of commission or just completely off. The Warriors looked genuinely broken tonight, and that's a real concern if you have Warriors players on your team. But looking purely at fantasy performance, the bench guys who got minutes had solid nights.
Just don't overreact to one blowout. Volume gets weird in games like this.
The Bottom Line
Edgecombe was the story tonight, and he's someone to track going forward if he keeps playing like that. The Warriors bench depth looks surprisingly deep, but don't start plugging these guys into your lineups expecting consistency. Andre Drummond and Kelly Oubre Jr. both put up reliable performances for Philly, which is what you actually want from fantasy assets.
As for me, I'm gonna go watch some Warriors highlights from better times and cry into my spreadsheets. This loss was painful, but at least I didn't have Edgecombe on the wrong side of that line.