PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers have lost three in a row following Thursday’s 117-107 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. All three losses have come with Joel Embiid sidelined as the big fella is dealing with a right knee issue as well as a right shin soreness issue at the moment.

The Sixers have now dropped to 11-13 on the season in games in which Embiid hasn’t played and have now lost seven of their last eight in such instances. Philadelphia has lost by double-digits in all three games and has not been able to find much rhythm on either end of the floor.

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Tyrese Maxey finished with 28 points on the night, but shot only 8-for-23 as it was tough to find much spacing without Embiid on the floor to attract so much attention from the defense. It’s tough for the Sixers to have to adjust a bit now with Embiid out. They had him for such a long stretch in January and it made life easier for everybody on the floor. Now, they have to play another style without him.

“It definitely is,” Maxey said of playing without Embiid. “It definitely is playing multiple styles of basketball. That’s why I said for myself, like a couple games ago. Like, it’s weird, you know, I’ve had a successful year, but I’ve played three different roles. You know what I mean? And that’s difficult, but it comes with it sometimes.”

With that being said, the Sixers were able to have success without Embiid earlier in the season before this recent stretch. Maxey has to be able to lead this group on the nights the big fella can’t go. He knows it.

“That’s not an excuse that you can use,” Maxey added. “You gotta go out there with what we have out there and try to win games. Like, we’re in the games, have chances to win, playing, bad a hell of a third quarter, slow start to the fourth quarter, and just couldn’t recover.”

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To Maxey’s point, the Sixers were right there. They trailed by as many as 11 in the third quarter before cutting the deficit to one. The Hawks went on another run and pushed the lead back to 14 in the fourth, but Philadelphia had then cut it to four.

There are chances for the Sixers to win games, but Philadelphia was unable to get it done when it mattered most without Embiid out there to help them.

“We got to make plays, man,” Maxey finished. “We gotta make plays. Guys gotta make plays. Just gotta go out there and be aggressive. Don’t be nervous or scared to make a play, or make a mistake. Be aggressive, man, and go out there, and just play.”

The Sixers will take on the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday to begin a 3-game road trip

This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Tyrese Maxey discusses 76ers’ struggles without Joel Embiid after loss