Joel Embiid needs to take backseat to Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe
Joel Embiid did not lose Game 4 for the 76ers.
He did not win it for them, both.
Somewhere in between is a conundrum that can outline the upcoming Sixers summer season and these within the foreseeable future.
How do you trend a aggressive roster that’s centered on two younger scoring guards but in addition accommodates a ball-dominant middle each time he occurs to be out there to play?
How do you coach such a roster?
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These might not be Daryl Morey and Nick Nurse‘s issues to remedy if the Sixers cannot remedy 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 per week in the past, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe made the long run 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 non-compulsory third row. Maxey someway 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 mentioned all the proper issues afterwards. And he was partially right.
“That absolutely can’t happen,” he mentioned. “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 duty. Even with out Embiid on the ground, he can generally be slightly too unselfish. But the most important perpetrator in Game 4 was the presence of Embiid. Not that he was demanding the ball or forcing up photographs. He did not 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 mentioned.
Therein lies the problem. With Embiid on the court docket, the circulation of the sport is not the identical as when Andre Drummond and Adem Bona are on the market primarily as screen-setters or last-ditch choices. The complete pecking order is completely different. Maxey mentioned 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 excellent circumstances. Ideally, Maxey es the circulation.
This is uncharted territory for all concerned. Maxey entered Sunday having spent lengthy stretches of the earlier two video games trying each bit the equal of Celtics superstars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The Sixers have been clearly at their greatest when he knew that the load of the sport rested on their shoulders. But Maxey has spent his complete profession enjoying for a staff constructed round Embiid. So when Embiid immediately returns to the court docket, previous habits die onerous. That has been the most important price of Embiid’s fixed comings and goings as Maxey has developed right into a authentic alpha scorer. He hasn’t had many alternatives to find out how 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 mentioned.
There is an identical dynamic between Edgecombe and George. The youngest NBA gamers see George as an icon. Nurse can preach all he desires concerning 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 mentioned.
The concern 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 almost 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 hold their deficit beneath 20. When all was mentioned and accomplished, Embiid and George had mixed for 42 factors on 15-of-34 capturing.
It in all probability did not 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 stable 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 irrelevant. It was a foul look. Real unhealthy.
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The Sixers are heading right into a summer season when the framing goes to matter. Absent an outlined route and a plausible aggressive narrative, they are going to wrestle 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 occasions earlier than they find yourself useless inside.
All of that will have been true no matter how Game 4 performed out. What we noticed did not make it any kind of true. But what we noticed is inexcusable at this stage of the Sixers’ trajectory.
And therein lies the conundrum. Embiid is all the time going to be a participant who finally ends up with the ball in his fingers and an honest have a look at the basket. He is wired to take these alternatives. He has had a whole lot of success doing it. Even in Game 4, there have been moments while you noticed the success he can nonetheless have if he can hold himself on the court docket with any regularity.
That’s a hell of an “if.” Until it is not, then Embiid’s presence shall be an issue, as a result of it comes coupled with sufficient absences to make it almost inconceivable for guys like Maxey and Edgecombe to determine how to do what they do greatest alongside him.
