The Philadelphia 76ers came up short on Friday as they fell to the Chicago Bulls 109-102 to begin their 5-game road trip. They had their chances down the stretch, but the Sixers faltered in the fourth as the Bulls rallied to win the 3-game season series as they lead it 2-0 with one more matchup in March.
The biggest stat that comes from this loss, however, is the Sixers are now 0-4 when the Big 3 of Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and Paul George play in the 2025-26 season. They have now played 22 total games together dating back to the 2024-25 season–finishing 19 of those games. The Sixers are now 7-12 in games those three play together and finish. Not exactly ideal at the moment.
“Well, I think we need to figure it out and look at it, right?” coach Nick Nurse told reporters after the loss. “I mean, it’s been a little sporadic as far as when they played together. That doesn’t help. I mean, I’d really like 10 or 15, 20 straight games. So we can kind of start building some stuff and figuring out when to go where and get a little bit of rhythm and synergy. It’s just so choppy with when they play together as far as in consecutive games. It’s hard to build rhythm.”
Nurse is right about the games they’re playing in being sporadic. Both Embiid and George are still working their way back from a variety of injuries while Maxey recently missed two games because of an illness. It’s hard to build chemistry and a rhythm when the three of them are dealing with injuries, illnesses, and minutes restrictions.
“I don’t think it’s been a ton of games in total, I don’t think, either,” Nurse added. “So, if we can get them out there a little consistently, and we can certainly build because they all have great moments, right? They all have great moments, and I think that the chemistry and all that kind of stuff take a little time and so on.”
All in all, the Sixers won’t be able to really build or get anything going with their Big 3 until they play in a string of consecutive games together. This is now two straight games they’ve played in–both losses–but now, the Sixers will look to those three to lead the way for this group. They just need to stay on the floor together.
“Well, I think we’re still working some guys back in conditioning and rhythm-wise,” Nurse finished. “I think that is more games. Like I just said. I think that’s the whole key.”
The Sixers will take on the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday afternoon to continue the trip.