76ers Fend Off Warriors, Fueled by Dominant First Quarter and Electrifying Finish
Dec 4, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey (0) blocks the final shot of the game by Golden State Warriors guard De'Anthony Melton (8) to secure the victory at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
The Philadelphia 76ers came out on top against the Golden State Warriors 99-98 on Thursday night in Philadelphia, marking a win in game one of a back-to-back for the Sixers.
The Sixers improve to 12-9 on the season and move up to the 7 seed in the Eastern Conference. Golden State drops to below .500, at 11-12, and is the 8 seed in the West.
Golden State was without both Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler in this one, Curry dealing with a quad contusion and muscle strain, and Butler dealing with left knee soreness. Paul George was out and listed with a knee injury.
From the gate, it was all Philadelphia. The Sixers started the game on a 27-5 run and completely shut down Golden State. The Warriors couldn’t seem to get anything going, with both possessions staying stagnant and shots unable to fall. Dominick Barlow‘s defense was incredible, and Philly was able to get quality minutes out of Joel Embiid. Nick Nurse let Tyrese Maxey do his thing offensively, and the All-Star led the team on that side of the ball in the quarter. Philadelphia completely controlled the period, finishing the first quarter with a 30-10 lead.
Philly couldn’t follow up this first quarter with just as much dominance in the second, but they controlled their lead well. The Sixers were all around pretty even to Golden State when it came to this quarter, from rebounding, scoring, and momentum, but a Jared McCain three to finish the half gave Philadelphia momentum going into halftime. The 76ers held a 56-34 lead at the half.
But that lead, and the confidence coming with it, was short-lived.
In the 3rd quarter, the Warriors came with force. Unwilling to give in, Golden State went on to outscore Philadelphia 32-24 in the quarter and trimmed the Philly lead to just 14 at the end of the period. The 3rd quarter, as we all know, has been and continues to be a major flaw in the Philadelphia offense and defense alike. The Sixers have been outscored in almost every 3rd quarter this season, and Thursday’s game was no different.
Building off that momentum from the 3rd, Golden State came charging back in the 4th. The Warriors chipped away at that lead throughout the entirety of the quarter and took advantage of a slowed-down Philadelphia squad. Golden State sliced through the defense with ease, finding open threes and finishes at the rim at an alarming rate.
After being down 67-43 at one point in the third period, the Warriors found themselves with the lead with 2:39 remaining after a Gui Santos layup. From that point on, it seemed as if it was now Golden State in control. They maintained a 1-point lead for the majority of the time left in the game, but it was a jump ball between VJ Edgecombe and De’Anthony Melton, won by Melton, that gave the Warriors a clear path to victory.
Despite this, the Warriors, with a 98-97 lead, went on to botch the sideline inbound with just over 10 seconds remaining, with Edgecombe swiping it away from Quentin Post. The referee called a foul on this, which, upon knowing this, Nurse challenged the call and won. However, the ref ruled that the ball was still in possession of Post, meaning Golden State would receive the ball on the sideline once again. On this inbound, Pat Spencer inbounded it to Melton, but Edgecombe ran his man into Melton, and went on to snatch the ball on the ground and called a timeout.
With now a little over 8 seconds remaining, the ball was inbounded to Maxey, who tried to make a move to the rim but couldn’t find anything. Upon being double-teamed, Maxey threw up a forced, deep, fadeaway mid-range jumper from the right wing and airballed. But Edgecombe leaped up, grabbed Maxey’s airball out of the air, and put up an acrobatic lay on the right side of the rim and finished with 0.9 seconds remaining to give Philly a 99-98 lead.
Thinking the game was over, Philadelphia began to celebrate Edgecombe’s go-ahead finish, but Golden State was still playing. A full-court pass was heaved to Melton, who had a clear path to the rim to stun the 76ers, but Maxey sprinted down the court after his airball and swatted away what would’ve been a game-winning left-hand layup by Melton.
Philadephia’s win was electrifying, but the collapse prior to the unbelievable finish is something that Nurse and the team will undoubtedly discuss prior to Friday night’s duel against the Bucks.
In the win, Maxey finished with 35 points and made 4 of his 10 threes. It marks his 21st straight 20-point performance to start the season, the second-longest streak of 20 points in Sixers franchise history. Barlow also recorded 14 rebounds and has continued to overperform his expectations as a two-way player. Philly held the leading scorer of Golden State, Spencer, to just 16 points.
Philadelphia’s game on Friday against Milwaukee starts at 8:00 P.M. The Bucks will be without Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is currently at the center of a swirl of trade rumors, due to a non-contact calf injury that he sustained this week.
Evan Hartenstein
Evan has been a member of the Philly Sports Reports team since March 2023. He is covering the 76ers and wants to pursue a long-lasting career in Sports Journalism.
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