The Sixers are 9-8 heading into Thanksgiving, as a massive collection of injuries have finally started catching up to a team that had shown some impressive fortitude early in the year.
While their recent skid – seven losses in 11 games – is far from the nightmare that was their performance this time last year, the Sixers are clearly running into a manpower issue on most nights, with a disastrous blowout loss at the hands of the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night being the latest example.
“Two or three times a season, you're going to have games like this where just, like, everything goes wrong all of a sudden," Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said after the game. "… You can never really explain it… Just like I told the guys, we’ve got to be better. Certainly not who we are out there tonight.”
As the Sixers try to pick themselves up off the mat again, let's check in on how our friends in the national media feel about this team:
NBA.com: 15 (no change from last week)
John Schuhmann's rankings came before the Sixers' loss to Orlando, so that 41-point loss in which the Sixers managed 103 points and a 98.3 Offensive Rating (points per 100 possessions) is not included in the stats below. But Schuhmann has continued to harp on the Sixers' poor shot quality, even when their offense appeared to be humming:
"The Sixers were overperforming in terms of shot quality (which still ranks last), so it’s not a surprise that their offense has seen a drop-off over the last 15 days. They’ve scored just 110.8 points per 100 possessions (24th) over their last seven games, down from 121.3 (first) through their first nine." [NBA.com]
Clearly, the regression has hit this offense. And as admirable as their performances without Joel Embiid were early in the season, the impact of losing such a forceful and stabilizing offensive player is becoming more and more clear with every passing game. Speaking of…
MORE: What are Sixers' biggest weaknesses without Embiid?
ESPN: 17 (-4 from last week)
Tim Bontemps makes the same point: for as much as the Sixers have improved without Embiid on the floor relative to the first many years of his career, they still need him out there to have enough talent to pose a serious threat to other teams in the Eastern Conference:
"Another year, and another series of updates on the health status of Joel Embiid. He has now missed eight games after sitting out Tuesday night's blowout loss at home to the Magic, though he has been trending closer to returning from his ongoing right knee soreness — the opposite knee from the one that has plagued him with issues for the past couple of years. The 76ers have fared all right without him but certainly could regularly use Embiid's still excellent offensive game." [ESPN]
With Embiid out, just about every player on this team outside of Tyrese Maxey appears at least slightly underqualified for the sort of offensive responsibilities they own. But as we are about to hit on, Maxey would benefit tremendously from having Embiid around.
The Athletic: 14 (+1 from last week)
In the holiday spirit, Law Murray picks one thing every team should be thankful. For the Sixers, the choice was pretty clear as Tyrese Maxey continues to stage a career year. Murray specifically chose Maxey's energy:
"Maxey has been running around like Sonic the Hedgehog this season, and the 76ers would likely have a losing season without his heroics. Last Monday night saw Maxey upstage his big homie James Harden in a comeback win against the Clippers, with Maxey scoring 14 of his game-high 39 points in the fourth quarter. And then Maxey scored 22 of his career-high 54 points in the fourth quarter and overtime of a win at Milwaukee, the second night of a back-to-back." [The Athletic]
Maxey "only" played 32 minutes as his team was demolished on Tuesday; that got his season-long minutes per game down to 39.9. That is 2.6 more than the average of second place… backcourt mate VJ Edgecombe. Maxey has played 679 minutes in all, also an NBA-high.
MORE: Injury-riddled Sixers blown out, calling roster management into question
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