Keith Pompey

This is the second time in Maxey's career that he was player of the week. The first time was on Oct. 30, for the first week of the season.

Despite Denver being down several starters, including Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon, and Jamal Murray, the Sixers took the Nuggets lightly and suffered a bad loss because of it.

Maxey was supplanted by New York Knicks point guard and former Villanova standout Jalen Brunson.

Oubre has been out since Nov. 14 with a left knee ligament and Watford has missed action since Nov. 25 with a strained left thigh muscle.

Oubre has been sidelined since spraining a left knee ligament. Meanwhile, Watford has been out since suffering a strained left thigh muscle.

Embiid played in his fifth consecutive game and scored 28 points on 10-for-14 shooting. George showed his can still be efficient and scored 13 of his 23 points in the second quarter.

PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid is, once again, a constant for the 76ers. With Kelly Oubre Jr. and Trendon Watford back, we'll finally get a glimpse of how competitive the team is.

For the first time all season, the 76ers had all of their main players available heading into Wednesday nights game against the Washington Wizards.

George is rounding into form and taking advantage of the minutes when Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey sit on the bench.

With Tyrese Maxey, the emergence of rookie VJ Edgecombe, and the improved health and play of Joel Embiid and Paul George, the Sixers are rising up the Eastern Conference standings.