Sixers rolled 125-112 against Detroit Pistons despite rare appearance from their Big Three

DETROIT — The 76ers are the healthiest they’ve been in a long time.

They had 15 players on hand for Friday morning’s film study and three groups at the ensuing shootaround.

“We haven’t been at two groups for a long time,” coach Nick Nurse said before facing the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena. “So, to go that far, that quickly, it was different. But obviously we’ll see how it goes.”

It didn’t go well.

Despite playing without All-Star point guard Cade Cunningham, the Pistons rolled to a 125-112 victory at Little Caesars Arena.

The Sixers have lost two straight and four of the last five games, dropping them to 20-31. The Pistons (26-26) hold a 2-1 tiebreaker should the teams finish with identical records. The Sixers also dropped to 6-2 in games their Big Three of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George have completed. The Sixers are 1-2 in the other three games the trio were unable to finish.

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George suffered a game-ending injury in a loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Nov. 20. Embiid left with a game-ending injury against the Indiana Pacers Dec. 13. The 2023 NBA MVP and seven-time All-Star was ejected vs. the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 23.

Friday marked the first time since Jan. 4 that the trio played together. And if this game was any indication, the grouping needs some work and a sense of urgency.

“We didn’t come out with any speed or juice or energy at the start,” Nurse said. “They weren’t just one step [faster], they were three steps faster than us. Everything up the floor was fast ... lots of transition buckets. When we did get them to miss, they got just about every rebound. Just outworked us.”

Embiid finished with 23 points on 7-for-18 shooting to go with seven rebounds, six assists, two blocks, and two turnovers. However, he struggled before scoring 20 points in the third quarter. He made 6 of 8 shots and went 7-for-8 from the foul line while playing all 12 minutes of the third. Embiid, who had his share of hard falls, went to the locker room at the conclusion of the third and returned to the bench during a timeout with 9 minutes, 3 seconds remaining.

Maxey had 27 points on 9-for-20 shooting to go with seven assists, three rebounds, and four turnovers. George added 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting. Quentin Grimes had 14 points in his Sixers debut one day after his trade from the Dallas Mavericks was finalized, while Kelly Oubre Jr. had 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Detroit’s Malik Beasley finished with 36 points and made nine threes. Former Sixer Tobias Harris added 22 points.

The Sixers had one scare as Adem Bona went down after taking a blow to head with 4:17 remaining in the first half. He remained on the floor briefly before getting up and checking out of the game. The rookie returned at the start of the fourth quarter.

And there was an animated exchange between Embiid and Oubre during a timeout after Oubre didn’t hustle on a defensive play. However, the two later embraced to close the conversation.

“Listen, man,” Oubre said, “anything between me and Joel is nothing. We’re brothers in real life. I’ve been knowing him way before I even got to the league and he even got to the league. We both are super fierce competitors. And we both really come from nothing.

“So whenever we get at it or anything like that, it’s all in the competitive nature of the game. We’re talking about just being better, each other. We kind of need that as a team to show some passion and show that we really want this. That’s all it was. It’s nothing. I still love my brother the same and vice versa.”

Things were rough from the start for the Sixers.

The Pistons jumped out to an early 16-8 lead with 7:36 left in the opening quarter. Maxey had six of the Sixers’ points on 3-for-4 shooting. Embiid was 0-for-3 from the field at the time, while George had yet to attempt a shot.

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Detroit led, 42-27, after one quarter thanks to Marcus Sasser’s buzzer-beating three-pointer. Maxey finished the quarter with 11 points. Embiid had one point on 0-for-4 shooting while making 1 of 2 free throw attempts. George had two points on 1-for-2 shooting.

“It’s kind of on me and Joel,” Maxey said of the slow start. “We talked about it when the game was over. We have to get it going faster, get him involved, myself, P. We didn’t have to play faster and not ease ourselves into the game. We don’t have any room for error right now. So every game matters.”

Embiid scored his first basket on his first shot attempt of the second quarter before missing the next four. As a result, he had three points on 1-for-9 shooting at the half.

The Pistons widened their lead and dominated play while Embiid and the Sixers struggled to find a groove. They led 30-17 in rebounding, 15-2 in second-chance points, and 23-13 in bench points and took a 78-49 lead into the locker room.

The Sixers will face the Milwaukee Bucks at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Fiserv Forum . Milwaukee dropped to 27-23 after losing to Atlanta Hawks, 115-110, Friday night. The Bucks hold a 2-0 series lead.