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With Joel Embiid‘s Tuesday night return from knee surgery, the 76ers are hoping they’ll be able to look back on April 2nd as the on-ramp for a return to the scary basketball team they were when he was forced to the sideline.
Twenty-four points in 29 minutes with occasional gasps for wind are some encouraging numbers when placed with a 109-105 win over Oklahoma City. A potentially big date indeed.
But around the Sixers, last November 1st is also destined to stand out as a red letter day, in that the James Harden cloud was lifted and it once again became sunny in Philadelphia … and for Harden, too, but that’s a separate matter.
Still, Embiid, who’d clearly become exasperated answering questions about his mercurial former teammate, remains the (weather)man. No doubt, the Sixer season can be broken down like a key word from every Philly cheesesteak order — wit or without. In the culinary case, it’s about whether you want onions or not. (Author’s interjection: hell yeah.)
76ers Joel Embiid’s Return Boosted by Tyrese Maxey
The 76ers were 29-14 in late January, holding down third place in the Eastern Conference and just a game behind Milwaukee in the loss column, when Embiid’s left meniscus problem became more of an issue. Since then, including the one game he came back and was largely un-Joel-like in a loss to Golden State, Philly was 11-20 heading into Tuesday’s play. (Overall this season, it is 27-8 avec Joel, 14-17 sans.)
The Sixers are now in the play-in zone, holding out the slim hope their big man’s return could help them make up a few games in the final week and a half of the season and get them to the safety of sixth place.
In truth, they would more than settle for just getting Embiid back and in gear with a rotation that added Buddy Hield and Cameron Payne in February.
A healthy Embiid is essential, but, so, too, this year has been the growth of Tyrese Maxey — growth that wouldn’t have happened in this manner if Harden were still around. Getting the energetic and ball-moving Maxey to the point opened up the Sixer attack.
Wild Season for Tyrese Maxey, 76ers
That’s the way it was from the start of camp, with Harden sitting out and waiting for a trade, but the removal of uncertainty when he was sent to his desired destination, the Clippers, took it to a different level and brought the club onto the same page.
“I mean, of course it changed things,” Maxey told Heavy Sports. “We got it over with. We got in in our rearview mirror, and then we were able to just go forward from it.”
Getting the Harden issue solved had to be comforting to Nick Nurse, who was taking over as head coach from Doc Rivers after Philly squandered a 3-2 lead against Boston in the second round, with Harden going 1 for 11 on 3-pointers in the final two games.
“Well, I think that it’s one of those things that you’ve kind of got to deal with what’s the situation, and I think you’re always going to try to look at the positivity of it,” Nurse told Heavy. “And it was time for Tyrese to become a point guard and have the ball. So however it’s shaking out or shakes out in the end, this is a heck of a year of growth for him.”
The 23-year-old Maxey, who missed Tuesday’s Embiid return with a hip issue, became an All-Star. More important to the Sixers’ trajectory, he was able to take control out front and expand his game.
“Right,” he said. “Very true. I mean, that’s what I had to do to help this team win. (With) no James Harden, I had to come into a different role, and I think that’s what I’ve done.”
It wasn’t as if Maxey was campaigning for the new job description. He just wanted to fit in.
“I’m fine with it. I have no problem with it,” he said. “Whatever came with it, I was going to be OK with. I know I worked extremely hard in the offseason on both — whether I was playing on the ball or off the ball, playing with James or without James. So I think it all worked out for everybody.”
‘Everybody Has to Sacrifice’
As for doing less than he was able to in last season’s rotation, well, that wasn’t a problem either — not even in a league where young players push to establish themselves at their highest level.
“I wouldn’t say it was hard, because everybody has to sacrifice when you’re trying to win,” Maxey said. “And James is probably one of the best pick-and-roll players of all time, one of the best passers of all time, so to be able to play off of him and play off of Joel, it was great for us.”
But, the Sixers allow, the air is clearer after the trade.
“It was a sigh of relief for everybody, I mean, for JH, as well — not just for us as an organization, but for him especially,” Maxey said. “You know, he got to go where he wanted to go, and he gets to flourish. So we’re happy for him, as well.”
Philly will be even happier if Embiid returns as a reasonable facsimile of himself. Tuesday was a good start. In addition to his points, he had six boards, seven assists, three steals and, owing to his obvious rust, six turnovers. If he and Maxey and friends can get things together again, there could be more important dates on the Sixers’ postseason schedule.
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