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EspañolBOSTON -- There should be no questioning the love Philadelphia 76ers rookie VJ Edgecombe has for the game of basketball and his will to win. Even for a player so young and looking to find his place in the league, he continues to impress with his willingness to do whatever it takes.
He showed that mindset in Sunday's 114-98 loss to the Boston Celtics when he gave up his body to dive into the crowd for a loose ball. After Tyrese Maxey had missed a 3-pointer, Edgecombe chased the loose ball and dove into the crowd head first to give himself a chance to save it.
The play occurred with the Sixers trailing the Celtics by six and Philadelphia ended up retaining possession.
"Just making a hustle play," Edgecombe said after the contest. "I'm trying to win, doing whatever it takes to win. I see the rebound. I tried to take it out of his hand and tapped it out, and then I just dove. To be honest, I don't care. Like, if there's a loose ball and I have to go dive for the ball, I’m gonna dive for the ball. I don't care. I mean, I'm gonna put my body on the line every time. That's just how much I love the game."
In the process, Edgecombe did end up accidentally kicking a fan in the face. The woman had some bruises after the play, but the rookie was extremely apologetic afterward and gave the fan a hug and made sure everybody was OK. There is no art to diving into the stands after a loose ball other than to try and make it as safe as possible.
"You try to save the ball, but after that, yeah, no, to be honest," Edgecombe explained. "I jumped over the first row because I know I was running full head of steam, so I know how to just either run them over, or them get hurt, or I get hurt, so that's why I was like jump over the first row. I'm sorry to the lady that I kicked in the face. I'm terribly sorry. I hope she's OK, but, yeah, I didn't mean to do that, but it's just, I don't think it's a skill. Just got to be careful."
1. One HELL of an effort play from VJ Edgecombe to save this possession for the Sixers.
— Erin Grugan (@eringrugan) March 2, 2026
2. Awesome to see Edgecombe so concerned / apologetic toward the fan that took a bit of a kick to the face in the process. pic.twitter.com/s8FghuuOLx
Edgecombe and the Sixers had their chances against the Celtics. Even while losing the rebounding battle 59-37 and giving up 30 second-chance points, they had a legitimate shot to win the game. However, just too many second opportunities given up on long rebounds did them in on the road.
"It is frustrating because we did our job by making them miss," Edgecombe explained. "Now, the possession ain't over. So, of course, yeah, it's really frustrating that we don't get the rebound because we know that's what leads to easy offense for us. Now we're in the rhythm. Now we're in the flow. Now we're, like I said, now we're flowing, having fun (by getting the rebounds), but these long rebounds, we don't capitalize off. They just got dagger 3s or just got a bucket, you know? Now they got momentum. Now the fans making noise. So, yeah, we just got to do better."
The Sixers will host the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday evening.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Sixers' VJ Edgecombe reacts to diving into crowd, accident with fan