Joel Embiid didn’t lose Game 4 for the 76ers.
He didn’t win it for them, both.
Somewhere in between is a conundrum that may outline the upcoming Sixers summer time and these within the foreseeable future.
How do you style a aggressive roster that’s centered on two younger scoring guards but in addition accommodates a ball-dominant middle every time he occurs to be out there to play?
How do you coach such a roster?
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These will not be Daryl Morey and Nick Nurse’s issues to resolve if the Sixers can’t resolve what plagued them in a 128-96 loss to the Celtics on Sunday night.
This was the sort of loss that may lose hearts and minds in a rush. Less than every week in the past, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe made the longer term seem like the current whereas starring in a scintillating Sixers win that evened the collection in Boston. On Sunday, with Embiid again within the lineup after a 20-day absence, the younger duo performed like they have been wedged into an elective third row. Maxey one way or the other made it to halftime having tried simply three photographs. Edgecombe had 5. Meanwhile, Embiid and soon-to-be 36-year-old Paul George mixed for 17 photographs within the first half. The Sixers have been down 18.
Maxey stated all the correct issues afterward. And he was partially right.
“That absolutely can’t happen,” he stated. “That’s just unacceptable by me. It wasn’t meant to happen that way. We can’t win basketball games with that happening, and I take full responsibility on that one.”
Maxey does bear some accountability. Even with out Embiid on the ground, he can generally be just a little too unselfish. But the larger perpetrator in Game 4 was the presence of Embiid. Not that he was demanding the ball or forcing up photographs. He didn’t want to. The ball finds him.
“It wasn’t intentional, it was kind of just the flow of the game, how the game was kind of going,” Maxey stated.
Therein lies the problem. With Embiid on the courtroom, the circulate of the sport isn’t the identical as when Andre Drummond and Adem Bona are on the market primarily as screen-setters or last-ditch choices. The whole pecking order is totally different. Maxey stated Embiid and George each informed him at halftime that he needs to “force” his approach into the sport. On the one hand, they have been right, given the circumstances. On the opposite hand, these aren’t best circumstances. Ideally, Maxey is the circulate.
This is uncharted territory for all concerned. Maxey entered Sunday having spent lengthy stretches of the earlier two video games wanting each bit the equal of Celtics superstars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The Sixers have been clearly at their finest when he knew that the burden of the sport rested on his shoulders. But Maxey has spent his whole profession enjoying for a crew constructed round Embiid. So when Embiid all of a sudden returns to the courtroom, previous habits die exhausting. That has been the largest price of Embiid’s fixed comings and goings as Maxey has developed right into a legit alpha scorer. He hasn’t had many alternatives to learn the way to play that function alongside Embiid.
» READ MORE: Joel Embiid’s big return, Payton Pritchard’s big first half and more of what we learned from the Sixers’ Game 4 loss
“He’s got to certainly be a bigger focal point and get some more shots off for sure,” Nurse stated.
There is the same dynamic between Edgecombe and George. The youngest NBA gamers see George as an icon. Nurse can preach all he needs in regards to the want for his younger guards to assert themselves, as he did after Game 4.
“It can’t go from 20 or 25 shots down to as low as it was, especially for VJ,” the Sixers coach stated.
The subject is inherent. Guys like Embiid and George command the ball with their presence. When the duo headed to the bench with 5 minutes, 31 seconds remaining, they’d mixed to try practically half of the Sixers’ photographs, and to miss nicely greater than half of these.
Two video games faraway from their star-making effort in Game 2, Maxey and Edgecombe mixed for simply 23 shot makes an attempt. Embiid took 21 on his personal, not together with 4 journeys to the foul line. There was a stretch within the third quarter when he appeared to discover his groove. By that time, the Sixers have been struggling simply to preserve their deficit beneath 20. When all was stated and accomplished, Embiid and George had mixed for 42 factors on 15-of-34 capturing.
It most likely didn’t matter an entire lot for the sport or for the collection, which the Sixers now path three video games to one heading into a possible clinching Game 5 on Tuesday in Boston. Maxey and Edgecombe mixed to hit simply 9 of 23 photographs for 28 factors. Maxey was a strong 7-for-14 for 22 factors. Edgecombe missed seven of his 9 photographs, together with all 4 of his three-point makes an attempt. Whether or not that framing is honest is usually inappropriate. It was a foul look. Real dangerous.
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The Sixers are heading right into a summer time when the framing goes to matter. Absent an outlined course and a plausible aggressive narrative, they are going to battle to persuade greater than a small handful of the fan base that the 2026-27 season is worthy of its disposable consideration and emotional funding. You can solely suck individuals again in so many instances earlier than they find yourself lifeless inside.
All of that will have been true no matter how Game 4 performed out. What we noticed didn’t make it any roughly true. But what we noticed is inexcusable at this stage of the Sixers’ trajectory.
And therein lies the conundrum. Embiid is at all times going to be a participant who finally ends up with the ball in his arms and a good have a look at the basket. He is wired to take these alternatives. He has had lots of success doing it. Even in Game 4, there have been moments once you noticed the success he can nonetheless have if he can preserve himself on the courtroom with any regularity.
That’s a hell of an “if.” Until it isn’t, then Embiid’s presence might be an issue, as a result of it comes coupled with sufficient absences to make it practically not possible for guys like Maxey and Edgecombe to work out how to do what they do finest alongside him.
