The Sixers Pick Up Their 3rd Win This Season, Currently Sitting at a Record of 3-13

Corey Chmara

The Sixers picked up a win on Friday night against the Brooklyn Nets, which was the only legitimate positive from the week. The Sixers played four games this past week and finished with a record of 1-3.

Last Monday, Philly faced Miami, where they got off to a strong start. They led by 19 points at one point in the second quarter, but that lead quickly shrank to just three by halftime. The Heat eventually pulled away and won 106-89. Following the game, the Sixers had a team meeting in which Tyrese Maxey told Joel Embiid he needs to stop being late "for everything" and how it impacts the entire organization, including the locker room, teammates, and coaching staff. This became a huge headline on Monday and Tuesday of last week, but it's being heavily blown out of proportion. Many players and coaches have similar conversations throughout the season, but it only becomes a big, problematic story when it involves the Sixers.

Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Instead of just going through game breakdowns, I want to focus on a few other points in this week's newsletter. So far this season, the Sixers have shown little to no heart when playing. From a fan's perspective, it seems like they go out there expecting everything to come easily. They don't rebound (ranked 29th in total rebounds), they don't move well on offense to create good, quality shots (29th in points per game), and ultimately, they look like they just don't care. They seem to expect to win simply because they have better players than some of the teams they play. But that's not how it works, and it's frustrating that it looks this way from a spectator's point of view.

Moving on to coaching: Another potential bright spot this week, even though I said there was only one— the win against Brooklyn— is the fact that Jeff Dowtin Jr. only played in one game this week, which was the loss to Miami on Monday. Nick Nurse has since turned to Reggie Jackson, who the Sixers signed this past offseason, to log solid minutes at the backup guard position. While Jackson didn't play against Miami because Dowtin took his minutes instead, he played in the following three games and averaged 7.0 points per game while playing just under 17 minutes per game.

This adjustment from Nick Nurse is really the only change he's made so far this season, and that's not an exaggeration. The Sixers' issues are the same every single game, and most, if not all, of that falls on Nick Nurse's shoulders.

 Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

On Wednesday in Memphis, we got a glimpse of the Sixers' "big 3" of Paul George, Tyrese Maxey, and Joel Embiid, who played a combined total of five minutes together. Woohoo! This was due to Maxey being on a strict minutes restriction, as well as Paul George hyper-extending his knee... again. Toward the end of the game against Memphis, Joel Embiid appeared to hurt himself but stayed in the game. It was later announced that he would not play in the Sixers' next two games— Friday night against Brooklyn and Sunday night against the Clippers. He was ruled out due to "knee management," a term familiar to all Sixers fans.

The Sixers currently sit at 3-13, with Tyrese Maxey looking like he's getting healthier, and both Joel Embiid and Paul George, who were injured against Memphis, having uncertain statuses. I would expect both to return this week given the updates we've received, but again, this is the Sixers we're talking about.

Another bright spot from this week was Joel Embiid's performance against the Memphis Grizzlies. Embiid played 35 minutes and scored 35 points with 11 rebounds on 10-21 shooting. This was easily the best he's looked this season, despite only playing in four games.

As for Jared McCain, there isn't much else to say. The last time McCain scored below 18 points in a game was back on November 6 against the Los Angeles Clippers in LA. He has been on a tear and is the lone bright spot for the Sixers through the first 16 games of the year.

This week, the Sixers only have two games: Wednesday against the Houston Rockets and Saturday at the Detroit Pistons. Both of these games would have been considered wins in the past, but this season is a different story. Houston is currently 12-6 and has looked very strong to start the season. It'll be interesting to see if Joel Embiid and/or Paul George can play on Wednesday, but the two-day break will certainly help.

The Sixers are currently (-200) to make the playoffs this year, which makes sense considering they have an elite roster, the Eastern conference only has four teams with winning records, and lastly the play-in tournament, which allows the 10 seed a shot at the playoffs. 

Philly needs to get healthy and start winning some basketball games.