Tyrese Maxey and the Philadelphia 76ers bounce back with a win over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night.

The wheels on the Melbourne Stars’ season are beginning to wobble, suffering a third straight loss, while the Sydney Sixers revival continued with a third straight win. The wheels on the Melbourne Stars’ season are starting to wobble.

It was Sixers' third straight win, setting up a possible title charge with Test stars Mitchell Starc and Steve Smith, plus off-spinner Todd Murphy, set to feature in the back-end of the competition. Stars, meanwhile, have nosedived with three straight losses after their hot start to the campaign.

The Philadelphia 76ers discuss the return plan for Kelly Oubre Jr. and Trendon Watford when they take on the Washington Wizards on Wednesday.

The Sixers, conversely, played with intent and energy through the entire 48 minutes against an undermanned team, wiping the slate clean from their embarrassing loss to Denver on Monday. The three-headed monster of Tyrese Maxey, Paul George and Joel Embiid led the way for the home squad, scoring 54 of the teams 62 first-half points.

You can now change that to 15-4 after the Sixers had 14 turnovers in their overtime loss to Denver. However, six of those turnovers belonged to Embiid, who made quite a few head-scratching plays down the stretch of a game in which he reached 40 minutes for the first time in a very long time.

The Philadelphia 76ers are headed toward some big decisions in the upcoming weeks. Their two-way players, Jabari Walker and Dominick Barlow, have been important players all season with Barlow a regular in the starting lineup and Walker in the every night rotation.

The Sixers' loss to a Nuggets team down all five starters is inexcusable. It's also a byproduct of the slog that is the 82-game regular season.

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.

PHILADELPHIA -- Everything the Philadelphia 76ers plan to do in the 2025-26 season comes down to the health of Joel Embiid. They will go as far as the big fella will take them when the playoffs roll around in April as he, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George are the leaders of this group.