The Philadelphia 76ers have been a disappointment this season. After signing Paul George in the summer to go along with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, many expected the team to be a championship contender.
However, this team has battled injuries all season long. Embiid has played only 17 games, and George has missed 19 games.
The “Big 3” have been together for the last three games, and they were beaten on the road by the Pistons without Cade Cunningham on Friday and the Bucks on Sunday without Giannis Antetokounmpo.
On Tuesday, the 76ers(20-33) hosted the Toronto Raptors(17-37), who were without R.J. Barrett and newly acquired Brandon Ingram. However, they got a poor shooting night from Maxey(1-9, 5 points). His three with 01.7 seconds to go fell short, and the 76ers lost to the lowly Raptors, 106-103.
Embiid, who chose to drive the ball, which ended in a turnover, instead of shooting a wide-open three that would have given the 76ers the lead late in the contest, had 27 points and 12 rebounds, and Paul George chipped in with 14 points.
With Embiid, George, and Maxey in the lineup together. Philadelphia is 8-6.
Despite the 76ers “Big 3” issues, head coach Nick Nurse said they are making strides.
“I don’t think even Joel [Embiid] would say he’s probably not in great rhythm yet to really do some of the things he can do, so still working back into that,” Nurse said. “From my standpoint again, we want to try to get all three of those guys humming and we haven’t seemed to be able to do that yet either. I do see some areas of growth; it certainly is no fun losing games, especially one sitting right there to go either way tonight; you have to pick some of those off. I do see some growth on some things; defensively, the offense is pretty clunky right now, but again, there were some opportunities there. I thought we didn’t shoot the ball very well. There were a lot of wide-open shots, you’re going to have to shoot it better, that’s the shots that are there. I think there were some decent segments of offense, as well.”
The 76ers will have a difficult time finding chemistry. There are 29 games left, and Embiid is still not playing back-to-backs, so they may never fully mesh by season’s end.
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