PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia 76ers needed somebody to step up on Monday night in a matchup with the San Antonio Spurs. Joel Embiid was ejected in the first half. Andre Drummond didn't play in the second half due to a left big toe contusion. KJ Martin was ruled out due to left foot soreness.

Therefore, coach Nick Nurse turned to Guerschon Yabusele.

Yabusele poured in 17 points on 6-for-8 shooting overall and 3-for-5 from deep and had four steals in a 111-106 win. Yabusele had to give the Sixers some offense as well as try and defend Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama and he performed both tasks at a high level.

"First of all, he was, he was working really hard, right?" Nurse said of Yabusele. "He (Wembanyama) was putting his body on him. He was making all this catches tough. He really hurt us from the perimeter and not really anywhere else, right?"

Overall, Wembanyama did have 26 points on 9-for-19 shooting and 6-for-13 from deep. When he did get into the paint, Yabusele was physical with him as he used his size and strength to make up for the lack of size. Philadelphia needed all of his production on both ends of the floor in order to get this one done.

"I thought he was awesome, man," added Paul George. "I thought he was awesome. I thought he was a huge boost, especially with Joel going down, Andre Drummond going down. Him stepping in, playing big minutes, and then playing both ends. I thought he was special."

Yabusele played with Wembanyama for the French national team in the Olympics and the Sixers leaned on him to give them some good production as well as lead the way with Wemby after the ejection of Embiid and losing Drummond.

"Again, I just think he just worked," Nurse finished on Yabusele. "He just worked and was physical with him."