PHILADELPHIA – Perhaps Joel Embiid avoiding injury on a scare that took the breath out of the Xfinity Mobile Arena is more important than any win or loss, but even as an extremely short-handed group the Sixers will be kicking themselves after dropping Tuesday’s game to the Brooklyn Nets.

A bug of some sort has hit the Sixers hard; they were without all three of VJ Edgecombe, Quentin Grimes and Dominick Barlow due to the same ongoing illness that has been plaguing the team for two weeks. It devastated the team’s depth. Tyrese Maxey, the first person to deal with the illness, had his worst game of the season. After a stellar first half, Embiid’s impact waned once he returned from the locker room.

By virtue of having the talent reflected by their 8-19 record, the Nets could not do enough to land a knockout blow, and the Sixers entered the final frame down by only a dozen points with a chance to stage another dramatic comeback victory. But they just did not have the manpower and energy to get the job done despite a brief, valiant effort, falling short in a 114-106 loss.

Takeaways from an unusual night in South Philadelphia:

Sixers lack rotation options after being bitten by a bug

For two weeks now, the Sixers have been dealing with a bug of sorts making the rounds. Maxey missed two games with an illness and Embiid had one absence with the same designation. It has been out in full force over the last few days, causing Edgecombe, Grimes and Barlow to be downgraded from questionable to out for Tuesday’s game. The Sixers only had 12 players available after summoning rookies Johni Broome and Hunter Sallis from the Delaware Blue Coats, their G League affiliate.

Nurse said before the game he was now leaning towards not scheduling a Wednesday practice, though that would depend on what he saw from his team against Brooklyn. The goal: limiting any additional spread of the bug that rendered the team so short-handed on Tuesday.

One of the byproducts of Edgecombe and Grimes’ absence: Jared McCain started for the first time all season, opening the game next to Maxey in the backcourt. Behind those two, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse went with Eric Gordon for the veteran’s first minutes in three weeks. Then came the 39-year-old Kyle Lowry, who actually has largely been helpful in his sporadic rotation cameos this season. Gordon drove and scored quickly, then Lowry assisted him on a triple to end the first quarter. But their athletic limitations were evident as the Sixers tried to find ways to score despite a lack of off-the-dribble juice.

Where the Sixers found themselves particularly shallow was on the wing. Their only available players that could reasonably be listed as forwards were starters Paul George and Jabari Walker, plus Justin Edwards off the bench. While Nurse did acknowledge pregame that George no longer has an official minutes restriction, he said his goal is to keep the nine-time All-Star around 32 minutes if he can. Walker and Edwards were ineffective for much of the game, and their lack of perimeter scoring was difficult to withstand. When Walker began picking up personal fouls, Nurse really found himself struggling to find competitive NBA size in addition to his lack of quality shot creation.

The Sixers needed Maxey to be in peak form on Tuesday, instead they got his worst performance of the season; he was completely out of sorts from start to finish. The Sixers had no way to overcome that, even against a weak opponent.

Joel Embiid starts out hot, avoids disaster, then stagnates

For Embiid, who had not played since Dec. 14 before returning to the court on Tuesday night, returns from lengthy layoffs often have slow starts. That was not the case in this one, which the Sixers badly needed. Maxey began the game uncharacteristically passive; Embiid’s quick scoring jolt was necessary to keep his team afloat.

Embiid made the first two baskets of the game and constantly played with the force and aggression has often lacked as a one-on-one scorer.

Nic Claxton, the Nets’ starting center and one of Embiid’s longtime rivals – for lack of a better word – was in foul trouble early in the first quarter, something Embiid used to always incite. It is a rarity these days; not only do the Sixers rely more on Embiid’s teammates for shot creation than they used to but he is not as impactful as a foul-drawer as he was when his mobility was worlds better.

Embiid scored 10 points on five shots in nine minutes and 15 seconds to begin his night, and with Maxey’s unusual combination of passivity and struggles as a scorer lasting deep into the first half. Oftentimes this season it has appeared that Embiid is far more comfortable being used as a decoy of sorts offensively, finding ways to draw attention before moving the ball along. His willingness to do so is very helpful and makes life easier for all of his teammates, but sometimes the Sixers just need him to assert his will on a game like this:

Whether Embiid plays well or poorly, he attributes his successes and failures to “shots going in” or “shots not going in.” Perhaps his usage of those tropes is a device to deflect questions about his approach to the game and overall mindset. Because there is no doubt that Embiid’s mentality on offense fluctuates from game to game and it has a major impact on his production. And he scored 19 points on 10 shots in a tremendous first half before disaster appeared to strike on the first play of the second half:

Joel Embiid goes to the locker room after being in visible/audible serious pain, holding the right knee, following this play.

Hard to see exactly what happened, but looks like Embiid’s leg is slightly swiped out from under him by Terance Mann. pic.twitter.com/p5Jreq8P4d

— Erin Grugan (@eringrugan) December 24, 2025

After Embiid suffered a scare in his right knee, it is worth noting that an issue with that knee caused eight consecutive absences for Embiid earlier this season; after two weeks of it appearing to have subsided the Sixers started listing it on injury reports again last week. It is notably not the knee Embiid had surgery on last April.

But Embiid returned to the Sixers bench fairly quickly, doing so with both of his knees wrapped heavily. This season, that has typically been a sign that Embiid’s night was over. But right as a timeout was about to end early in the third quarter, Embiid removed the wrapping from his knees, took off his warmup shirt and checked back into the game – this time playing alongside Andre Drummond before Bona returned to the action.

Whether it was the physical impact of the contact to his right knee or the mental side of an injury scare, Embiid no longer had that force once he returned. He was still a useful distraction at times, but his impact on the game diminished considerably. To Embiid’s credit, he had a run of spirited play during the Sixers’ last gasp in the fourth quarter. But he lost the form that powered him earlier.

Odds and ends

Two additional notes:

• With so many scorers down, the Sixers were always going to ask George for more shot creation and scoring than usual, but his defensive playmaking stood out in this game despite Michael Porter Jr. getting the best of him one-on-one for much of the night. After notching his third steal of the first quarter and change of action, George threw down a dunk and let out more emotion than he ever has during his time in Philadelphia. His teammates loved the slam:

Up next: The Sixers will be off on Christmas Eve and Christmas before returning to action on Friday night in Chicago, looking to avenge a brutal loss they suffered early in the season against the Bulls.

Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam
Follow PhillyVoice on Twitter: @thephillyvoice