This has been a miserable season for the Philadelphia 76ers, but it has been miserable for mostly explainable and unpreventable reasons.
They signed star forward Paul George in free agency, but have only had the combination of him, former MVP Joel Embiid and homegrown star point guard Tyrese Maxey on the court together 12 times due to injuries for Embiid and George. Rookie of the Year candidate Jared McCain was ruled out for the year in January due to an injury of his own. They’ve even been relatively unlucky when it comes to opposing shooters, who are making over 40% of their wide-open 3-pointers this season.
But the 76ers have tried to persevere, believing that their talent would ultimately win out.
“We’re going to have to fight to probably get into the playoffs, and then we’re going to have to fight to beat a very good team in the first round,” 76ers general manager Daryl Morey told reporters after the trade deadline. “But we feel like we would’ve had to play that team at some point to win the title anyway. And we’re just focused on [winning a] championship, and I know you have to squint a little, but we feel like this group can still do that.”
Well, if you needed to squint to see those championship odds a week ago, you’re going to need a pretty strong pair of glasses to do so now.
Philadelphia suffered arguably its worst loss of the season on Tuesday against the Toronto Raptors, and it came mostly devoid of injuries as the three-man core of Maxey, Embiid and George played. It was that trio, though, that ultimately did them in. Maxey was dreadful, hitting only one of his nine shots for five total points. George was a bit better, scoring 14 on reasonable shooting numbers, but Philadelphia still lost his minutes by 10 points.
And then there was Embiid, who, in one critical moment, gave Philadelphia a flashback to perhaps the worst moment of his time with the team. Trailing by two with less than 20 seconds remaining, Maxey and Embiid ran a pick-and-roll at the top of the arc. Both defenders followed the driving Maxey, who passed the ball back out to a wide open Embiid behind the arc. He held the ball for a second, considered shooting, and then decided to drive into traffic… only to turn the ball over and blow a golden opportunity to take the lead. Toronto went on to win, 106-103, after Maxey missed a tying shot in the final seconds.
If this brings back some memories of past Philadelphia losses, well, it should. Though the stakes weren’t quite as high, Embiid’s decision to pass on an obvious shot attempt late in a game is evocative of Ben Simmons passing up a layup in Game 7 of Philadelphia’s second-round loss to Atlanta back in 2021. That was the last game Simmons ever played in Philadelphia, and remains a painful memory for the 76ers to this day.
Embiid didn’t go quite that far, but he had no obvious reason to pass up that shot. He had already taken five 3s in the game, and for the season, he is shooting right around his career percentages from deep.
This was just another brutal self-inflicted wound for a 76ers team that has endured plenty of them over the past several years. Now at 20-33, the Sixers have some difficult choices to make with the All-Star break nearing. Embiid may need another knee surgery. George is having one of the worst seasons of his career. They currently owe their first-round pick to the Thunder, but it is top-six protected.
Philadelphia has a path to one of the top six slots in the lottery, and you don’t even need to squint to see it. It just probably starts with shutting down Embiid and focusing on next season.
If Tuesday was any indication, it’s not as though this season is likely to improve much in the near future. Even with a reasonably healthy version of their roster, the 76ers just can’t stay out of their own way.
