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Season Opener: Sixers Slip Without Stars

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By Chip Bayless (click Howie for more Chip)

 

 

 

With Joel Embiid & Paul George Out, Who are the 76ers?

With reports from Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer and many others confirming that Paul George and Joel Embiid will likely almost never play on back to back nights, and wouldn’t play in the season opener, most Sixers fans likely came into the season opener with expectations and confidence akin to a Ben Simmons jump shot.

Oh, and reports have confirmed the NBA is likely to investigate Sixers’ decision to sit Joel Embiid for opening night.

In the face of two of the top three Sixers stars being sidelined and potential league action, we knew someone would either have to have a career night, or a combination of players would have to play at least slightly above their averages to squeak out a win and make Sixers fans forget all the bad news.

In particular, we knew Maxey would have to deliver the goods the entire game or at the very least set up his teammates consistently.

He’s clearly been ascending for several seasons now, is coming off his first all-star selection, and was top-10 among all PGs last season in: threes per game, points per game, +/-, and blocks per game.

ESPN Analytics gave the Bucks a 62% chance to win the game before tip-off, and it was the Bucks who scored the first points of the game thanks to Giannis basically tripping over Kelly Oubre on his way to the basket and nailing both of his free throws.

And wouldn’t you know it, it was Maxey who quickly answered with a step-back three to put the Sixers up 3-2 with 11 minutes remaining in the first quarter.

With less than eight minutes remaining, Maxey again drove to the hoop and KJ Martin followed for a quick rebound to set the score at 8-4 in the Sixers’ favor as the 76ers were constantly flying to the offensive glass for rebounds.

Then, around four minutes later, the defense dared a certain Frenchmen to nail a three, and he answered with a key shot to put the 76ers up 15-12.

(And throw that 76ers France account a follow if you drink coffee and smoke cigarettes while eating snails. They follow us for you know, critical breaking news… sometimes memes).

With the quarter winding down, the Sixers found themselves up by one point, 23-22, courtesy of The Franchise nailing a crossover with an impressive finish through contact by the baseline.

In the first quarter, Maxey led the Sixers in points with seven and was the only 76er to make a three-point attempt.

Drummond contributed significantly and was a dominant presence on the block, continuing his crazy first-quarter rebounding (stat below) and leading the team easily with seven boards.

With 9:37 on the clock in the second period, Kelly Oubre lofted a soft floater that swished straight through the net to tie the game at 27.

A barrage of Bucks points, failing to capitalize on rebounds, and a turnover led to an easy Bobby Portis bucket and the largest Milwaukee lead of the game so far, setting the score at 43-37 with 3:54 remaining in the first half.

The scoring and defensive miscommunications were relentless, as three straight threes led to a score of 54-42 with just under two minutes left in the second quarter, a run which Tyrese Maxey finally ended with two free throw to cut the lead down to 10.

The Sixers ended the half down 11 and it was obvious Maxey knew he had to play hero ball for the team to have a chance, and he put up 18 shots in the first half, eight more than the next-closest Sixer in terms of shots, who was Kelly Oubre Jr.

Maxey also finished the half with 15 points while no other 76er had 10. The Sixers couldn’t capitalize on out-rebounding the Bucks 26-25 in the half, as the Bucks shot 51.2% compared to the Sixers’ 38.0% from the field and shot 37.5% from three while the 76ers hit only 23.1% of their three-pointers.

The 76ers couldn’t defend Dame all night, and he had 29 points with just two minutes left on the clock in the third period with the Bucks up 94-76.

After a slick Maxey steal from behind followed by Andre Drummond’s 11th rebound which resulting in his eighth point of the game to get the score back down to an 11 point lead again as the Sixers found themselves down 72-61 midway through the third quarter.

Tyrese kept driving, and the Lillard threes kept falling throughout the quarter, giving Milwaukee a comfortable lead.

Kyle Lowry hit a clutch three to at least give the team some momentum and hope heading into the fourth by cutting the lead to under 20 with a three almost right at the quarter buzzer.

Maxey hit an absolutely wild, diving reverse layup, looping his entire body around Giannis and finishing through contact on a play all the ESPN announcers agreed should have been called a foul. The basket cut the score to 104-88:

Yabusele made some phenomenal strips showing tremendous concentration and body control, one of which was on Giannis, and both of which led to wide-open layups and got the score to 105-92 and forced a Bucks’ timeout.

That run never mattered though, as the Bucks pulled away and both teams emptied their benches with a few minutes left in the game

The one positive note towards the end would be that Jared McCain nailed his first-ever shot attempt in the NBA.

If you take a look at the shot charts and lead tracker from this game, its easy to understand why the Sixers lost this game. They missed way too many threes and couldn’t capitalize on some of the easiest opportunities in the game:

The Bucks also completely dominated from midway through the second quarter onward:

Despite out-rebounding the Bucks, the Sixers ultimately lost because they were out-shot by more than 10% from both the field and the three-point line, and it didn’t help that the Bucks had nine blocks while the Sixers only had two:

After tonight, the question becomes did we just see this season’s demoralizing iteration of the 76ers without Embiid and Paul George, or did we see a fluky performance that should concern us no more than videos of Ben Simmons hitting threes in the offseason?

Additionally, how much will this core not playing together consistently impact their playoff chemistry and ability to finish when it matters most, and the ability to even make the playoffs to begin with?

We’ve seen teams like the Clippers, where Paul George just came from, implode like Markelle Fultz’ shoulder when he rides motorcycles in similar situations where they essentially forgo regular season chemistry as a trade-0ff for long term health.

Although, we’ve also seen other teams, like the Mavericks, struggle with regular season consistency and familiarity between new stars only to put together a playoff performance for the ages.

Which narrative will define this team in 2024-2025? That will be up to Maxey and others not named Joel or Paul who do play almost every single night, as that will determine whether the Sixers even have the opportunity to capitalize on a healthy Embiid and George by being in the playoffs to begin with.

PS: Adam Silver please don’t fuck Philadelphia over this Embiid shit like you did with Colangelo.

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