After latest Paul George injury, Sixers could lean into Joel Embiid-Tyrese Maxey two-man game
Embiid and Maxey became arguably the NBA’s most dangerous offensive tandem last season. The Sixers likely need a return to form from the duo.
MEMPHIS — Tyrese Maxey candidly expressed how it felt to watch Paul George crouch under the basket, then head to the locker room during the 76ers’ loss to the Grizzlies.
“It [stinks],” Maxey said from his locker after the game Wednesday. “That’s just me being honest. It [stinks]. You don’t want that from anybody.”
The Sixers still have not gotten a full game with their All-Stars together, after George reinjured his left knee early in the second half of Maxey’s return from a hamstring strain. They dropped to an NBA-worst 2-12 record, a rapid out-of-the-gate spiral that is already prompting outsiders to ask if the Sixers have enough time to establish cohesion this season, or if it is possible they finish with a bad enough record to keep their 2025 top-six-protected lottery draft pick.
But to try to crack this funk, the Sixers might lean heavily back into the one element that is not brand new, and that did finally make its 2024-25 debut Wednesday: the lethal two-man game with Maxey and 2023 NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid.
“The offense is pretty bad right now,” said Embiid, referring to the Sixers’ ranking last in the NBA in efficiency (100.4 points allowed per 100 possessions) and field-goal percentage (42.9) entering Thursday. “But I think every single time we ran that action, we got something good every single time.
“So if we’ve got to do that every single possession, we might have to.”
Without George (but with Tobias Harris) last season, Embiid and Maxey became arguably the NBA’s most dangerous offensive tandem. Embiid was putting up Wilt Chamberlain-esque numbers, including a 70-point outburst, before February knee surgery. Maxey morphed into a first-time All-Star, blending explosive drives and deep range with improved facilitating.
So perhaps it is not a coincidence that Embiid, who has missed 10 out of the Sixers’ first 14 games with that ongoing knee condition and a suspension, compiled a season-best 35 points and 11 rebounds Wednesday. His shooting touch (10-of-21 from the floor, 14-of-14 from the free-throw line) was back, as well as some opportunities to barrel down the lane. In the locker room afterward, Embiid proclaimed, “Look what happens when I get pocket passes!” And that extra aggressiveness was not a surprise, after Embiid said he might need to return to that approach following Monday’s loss at the Miami Heat and a lengthy team meeting.
“I know what he wants,” Maxey said. “I know how he sees the game. … Joel just does a good job making the game so much easier for everybody. I’ll say it a thousand times, [you’ve] got to appreciate him.”
Embiid’s outing unfolded even with Maxey limited to 20 minutes and going an uncharacteristic 3-of-13 from the floor, a choppy rotation flow he said “felt kind of nasty” while recognizing the reason to proceed with caution. Maxey did also see “really good” potential with new starting backcourt-mate Jared McCain, the rookie who scored 20 points with five assists Wednesday and continues to demonstrate beyond-his-years ability to score in a variety of ways and create with the ball in his hands.
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At one point Wednesday, Maxey called McCain over to the sideline to carve out a sequence when the rookie came off a ball screen and, when Embiid’s defender moved into drop coverage, he delivered a pocket pass to the big man for a midrange jumper.
“The defender’s not going to help anymore,” Maxey said. “Now, [McCain] can get easier layups and easier buckets and easier spray-outs.”
It was unclear how long George — who did not speak to the media following Wednesday’s injury — could be sidelined. The 34-year-old wing missed about three weeks the first time he injured the same knee in mid-October, which also was initially described as a hyperextension before being officially diagnosed as a bone bruise. He had a slight limp as he left the locker room under his own power late Wednesday. Nurse, though, said George was “actually fairly close to coming back into the game” before it “stiffened up” as time passed.
“So we decided not to [put him back in],” Nurse said. “And now we’ve got to take a look at it and make sure.”
An MRI of George’s left knee revealed no structural damage. He will be listed as out (left knee bone bruise) for the next two games and reevaluated on Monday.
The coach also resisted blaming Wednesday’s loss — or the totality of this dreadful start — solely on the still-fluctuating health of the team’s stars. The Grizzlies were the second consecutive opponent the Sixers played on the second night of a back-to-back set, and were missing electric star Ja Morant, former defensive player of the year Marcus Smart, and standout rookie Zach Edey. Still, Nurse believed his team was “outhustled” and “out-toughed” until a down-the-stretch run that was too little, too late.
Embiid still attributes some of these struggles to a roster with eight new players aiming to get on the same page. That’s a reason that, when the media entered the locker room after the game Wednesday, he and starting forward Caleb Martin were discussing schematics. The big man also acknowledges he is “still trying to get back to myself,” from managing periodic swelling in his knee to feeling that trust in it to move effectively.
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Until all — or any — of that clicks into place, the Sixers might need to lean heavily back into the Maxey-Embiid tandem, which finally made its 2024-25 debut.
“It’s hard,” Embiid said. “You get one [teammate] back, you lose one. It’s hard to kind of get the chemistry. … But right now, that’s what it takes. Whatever the body allows me to do, I’m going to go out and do.”