Finally, the Sixers began their season Wednesday night, playing host to Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Doc Rivers and the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks were without Khris Middleton, but the Sixers experienced far greater losses in Joel Embiid and Paul George.
Right off the bat, a revamped Sixers roster led by head coach Nick Nurse had its depth tested. An upset win for the Sixers would have lifted spirits, but Lillard and co. had different ideas. Milwaukee was on the money from beyond the arc all night long, and the Sixers could not muster enough offense to match.
Here is what stood out from the Sixers' 124-109 loss, dropping them to 0-1 on the young season:
Nurse goes with Eric Gordon and KJ Martin in his starting five
Gordon became the clear favorite to start over Caleb Martin midway through the preseason — Nurse is excited about the floor spacing Gordon can provide that unit and thinks Caleb Martin can give bench lineups a necessary infusion of energy. Nurse said before the game that Martin is "clearly" one of the team's five best players and that his minutes would reflect that.
With George out, Nurse opted to go with KJ Martin, who has impressed and looked considerably more comfortable during all of training camp and preseason. Martin is a remarkable athlete, which lends itself to Nurse's renewed emphasis on pushing the pace. The fifth-year wing serves as a quality defender across at least three positions and has become an impressive passer and decision-maker in short-roll situations. Whether or not KJ Martin can consistently knock down open threes moving forward will determine his long-term fate; he spent the summer working with a shooting coach and refined his hand placement in hopes of seeing better results.
Early jitters on both sides to open season
The first timeout of the game came about halfway through the first quarter, with the score knotted at 10. The teams shot a combined 7-24 from the field during that opening burst, including Tyrese Maxey knocking down his first look — a three — before missing his next five shot attempts.
Elsewhere, Andre Drummond was dominant on the glass early, pulling six rebounds and turning one of his offensive boards into a bucket. Caleb Martin came off the bench a bit earlier than anticipated when Antetokounmpo got KJ Martin in foul trouble and immediately did exactly what Nurse said he hoped to see the former Heat wing do: crash the glass. Antetokounmpo failed to box out, and Caleb Martin turned it into a layup for Oubre. Caleb Martin's offensive rebounding stood out early, an extremely encouraging sign for Nurse.
lookin' TOUGH out there. 💪 pic.twitter.com/yzZkBWwFZp
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) October 23, 2024
As the Sixers' primary scoring options, Maxey and Oubre were struggling early to put the ball in the basket, but strong defense from the Sixers — including an Antetokounmpo transition turnover forced by Gordon — made up for it.
Some rotation questions answered
The first substitution of the season was the aforementioned swap of Martins, but the next reserve to check in was Guerschon Yabusele. Yabusele replaced Oubre, allowing him to log a few minutes at power forward before Oubre returned to replace Drummond, sliding Yabusele up to the five.
Yabusele's first NBA shot attempt in many years was a wide open corner three, and he cashed it.
YABUS3LE! pic.twitter.com/YxIoN3fAm4
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) October 24, 2024
As expected, Kyle Lowry checked in as well, replacing Gordon. Nurse will still have Maxey and Lowry share the floor a decent bit; he prefers having as many ball-handlers on the floor at once as possible.
The one surprise was that Nurse opted to go with an eight-man rotation in the first half, choosing to not play any of his deeper reserves — most notably rookie Jared McCain.
Maxey shows aggression early
Whenever Embiid and George are out — and that may not be an infrequent occurrence — the Sixers need Maxey to be as aggressive as possible scoring the ball. Nurse has spent the entirety of his time in Philadelphia getting on Maxey, telling the All-Star point guard that he can continue to increase his scoring volume.
Maxey only shot 3-11 from the field in the first quarter, but just that amount of shot attempts alone is exactly what Nurse continues to long for on a consistent basis.
To top it off, Maxey gave the Sixers a 23-22 lead at the first-quarter buzzer after putting together a nasty series of moves.
Maxey flew to the cup before the buzzer 💨 pic.twitter.com/4oFD3Otv23
— NBA TV (@NBATV) October 24, 2024
Ultimately, the Sixers' early offense looked like that of a team with several new pieces that was missing an MVP candidate and a nine-time All-Star. This is all a work in progress.
Another note on Maxey: it was clear that a focus for him during the offseason was regaining the sort of comfort in between the three-point line and restricted area that he had when he first entered the league, and he had quite a few shot attempts in the mid-range area early on, including this floater:
call this the rubber duck bc it floats. 🐥 pic.twitter.com/mRfaKGT04D
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) October 24, 2024
Maxey was far too reliant on his floater when he entered the NBA, but abandoning it entirely was not necessarily the ideal pivot. Perhaps it will return to his arsenal in his fifth professional season.
Bucks make a run to end first half
The last several minutes of the second quarter were not kind to the Sixers. First, their offense stagnated — predictably, this was most apparent while Maxey rested — then they finally strung together some strong offensive possessions but saw Milwaukee get hot from beyond the arc.
Perhaps a larger issue was the Sixers repeatedly committing fouls on the defensive end. By the time intermission had arrived, Drummond, KJ Martin and Oubre each had three fouls, while Yabusele — who banked in a shot to beat the second-quarter buzzer — had two.
The Sixers have made a calculated risk in embracing athleticism and positional versatility instead of size and strength. That trade-off provides plenty of positive results, but it also makes them susceptible to the occasional bully-ball bucket or easy foul-drawing against a team like Milwaukee that has tremendous muscle across the board.
In addition to Antetokounmpo posting 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists in just 15 first-half minutes, Bobby Portis torched the Sixers' second unit to the tune of 13 points, three rebounds and three assists in the game's opening 24 minutes.
MORE: NBA to investigate Sixers re: Joel Embiid
Looking for a spark, Nurse goes to Ricky Council IV, but Milwaukee push persists
By the halfway point of the third quarter, boos were beginning to get louder in South Philadelphia as the Bucks continued to rain triples. Milwaukee increased its lead to 18, and Nurse decided to try changing the pace of the game a bit by going to Ricky Council IV. Council did not do enough during training camp and preseason to earn a regular rotation role, but the Sixers still see real potential with the second-year wing. At the moment, this role is probably his optimal one: not a player who is relied on for nightly contributions, but is around when the energy needs to shift.
There was a moment when the building had juice again — Yabsuele converted an and-one thanks to a great dish from Lowry, and the Sixers forced a Bucks turnover. But Maxey was blocked at the rim by Brook Lopez and Lillard drew a foul, then Yabusele got called for a moving screen and Lillard knocked down his fifth triple of the night. Suddenly, Milwaukee's lead was back up to 17.
For what it's worth, Council did knock down a three on his first shot attempt of the season, a spot-up attempt from the left wing. A barrage of Lillard threes came before it, though, putting the Sixers in a major hole.
Sixers struggle at the free throw line
The Sixers led the NBA in free throws made per game while also being second-best in free throw percentage in 2023-24, but that is powered by a legendary foul-drawer in Embiid. On Wednesday night, they struggled at the line. By the time the third quarter was over, they had already missed eight free throws (15-23).
When you are short-handed to the degree the Sixers were without Embiid and George and you are facing a team that is red-hot from beyond the arc, there is no margin for error at the free throw line. This is not exactly an indicator of a long-term problem, but it is a frustrating one to deal with when so many things are already working against a team.
Strong night for Sixers bench
There was not a ton to be excited about from an offensive perspective for the Sixers for much of this game, but they did see three reserves give them healthy doses of scoring. Caleb Martin and Yabusele were each in double-figures while also playing strong defense and doing a little bit of everything else, while Lowry was a calming presence with his ball-handling, passing and three-point shooting.
Too often, the Sixers were unable to play quality offense for more than a few possessions in a row, but their best spurts on that end of the floor came when Lowry was in the game.
A wild stat on Lowry's longevity, courtesy of the Sixers:
.@sixers @Klow7 began his 19th @NBA season with four first-quarter minutes, making his lone field-goal attempt.
The only active players to appear in more seasons than Lowry are @KingJames (22) and @CP3 (20).
h/t @Stathead— Sixers Stats (@SixersStats) October 24, 2024
Lowry is a future Hall of Fame inductee, and it is pretty cool that the Philadelphia native and Villanova product could end his playing career with his hometown team.
Despite a valiant effort, Sixers have too little too late
The Sixers were able to make a few brief runs in the fourth quarter, but Maxey's subpar performance in combination with Milwaukee's three-point excellence and the Sixers' lack of offensive firepower beyond their All-Star point guard was enough for plenty of folks to be hitting the exits with four minutes or so left in the game.
There was a decent amount to like from the short-handed Sixers, but a whole lot more to be concerned about.
Up next: The Sixers will travel to Toronto, where they have a Friday night matchup against the rebuilding Raptors.
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