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Joel Embiid joked that the Philadelphia 76ers season didn’t start until his return from a three-game absence on November 7. He scored 33 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a 100-88 win that Doc Rivers called a “slugfest” due to the physical, defensive nature of it.
The Sixers improved their record to 5-6 and snapped a two-game losing streak. Two days later, Rivers expanded further on what Monday night’s win meant and how close they are to getting in a good groove. Then, Rivers issued a 1-word answer for the team’s early struggles.
“It’s been a very unrhythmic year — is that a word? I don’t even know if that’s a word? — but if that’s a word, that’s what it’s been so far just with us, with guys in and out,” Rivers told reporters. “Now guys are playing and you can just feel our rhythm coming and that’s a good thing.”
(Editor’s note: Yes, unrhythmic is a word. It literally means “not regularly recurrent: not rhythmic. unrhythmic steps.”)
Rivers stopped short of calling it a turning point — the head coach referenced a 112-80 win over the Raptors in Toronto as another big momentum shifter — and attempted to predict the future.
“I just think the turning point is coming anyway, you can feel it,” Rivers said. “You would like luck in health, but we’re not going to have that for a while, right? James [Harden] is gonna be out for a month. It is what it is. But the guys feel it, you can feel us starting to get to know each other, starting to get our rhythm.”
Rivers Wants Tyrese Maxey to Play in the Paint
Rivers was pretty critical of Tyrese Maxey after Monday night’s win. He didn’t call it a bad performance, but he gave a far-from-gushing assessment and complained about Maxey’s lack of aggressiveness. He wants the third-year guard out of Kentucky to drive into the paint and attack.
“I didn’t think Tyrese played in the paint a lot,” Rivers told reporters on Wednesday. “I showed him film today, some six times where he had no business not getting to the paint and he didn’t so it was one of those games.”
Maxey went 4-of-18 from the field against Phoenix for 11 points while dishing out 6 assists. It looked like he was trying to play the facilitator role a bit too much with James Harden out. Rivers said he was “predetermining” passes instead of letting it fly. Everyone on the Sixers knows Maxey is at his best when he’s slashing for buckets.
“I see Tyrese as a playmaker, a scorer,” Paul Reed said. “I think he’s getting better on the defensive end as well but … man, that dude can score the ball, like I think he’s one of our better scorers on the team, and he’s just going to continue to get better and better as the season progresses.”
Sixers Still Growing, Communicating, Improving
James Harden is out for a month due to a right foot tendon strain. Joel Embiid missed three straight games with the flu. P.J. Tucker had knee surgery ahead of training camp. All of that — combined with a bunch of new starters and spare parts — has the Sixers trying to build chemistry on the fly.
Danuel House admitted there have been growing pains, but everyone expected that. The more important thing has been their growth. They are finally starting to communicate and bond as a team after 11 games together.
“Still a work in progress,” House said. “Still young, still growing, but showing your growth because we’re talking, we’re tweaking, we’re communicating, we’re getting better — it just takes time.”
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