The Philadelphia 76ers’ big three have played very few games together, but things have been bad when they are all on the court.
The Sixers are 0-4 when Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George all play, and the team is 16-13 overall. After a loss to the Chicago Bulls on Friday, Maxey gave a blunt assessment of the trio’s struggles.
“We have to figure it out,” he said, per The Athletic’s Tony Jones.
Embiid, Maxey and George had solid games individually on Friday. Embiid led the way with 31 points, Maxey added 27 and George had 15. Aside from those three, there wasn’t much offense, with VJ Edgecombe being the only other Sixer scoring double-digits.
George described the performance as “stagnant.”
“I think we have to get better on both ends of the floor,” George said. “We have been getting stagnant out there, and that’s made us play a little slower. Tonight, that affected us, especially down the stretch. Chicago was able to dial into us, and they made the plays in the last few minutes. That was the game for us.”
To Maxey, the solution for Philadelphia’s big three’s struggles is more time practicing together.
“What’s tough is that we haven’t been able to have much practice time with all three of us on the floor,” Maxey said. “And that’s something we need to deal with, because the games are different. They are much different. We missed a lot of shots that we know we should have made. Those things happen. But, we have to figure it out, quick.”
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse shared a similar sentiment, saying their various injuries haven’t allowed them to find consistency.
“I’d like to see them have 10, or 15, or 20 games together,” Nurse said. “I think the issue here is that there have been so many injuries that there just hasn’t been enough time for them to get onto the floor together.”