PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers fell short to the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night 114-106 despite having all three of Tyrese Maxey, Paul George, and Joel Embiid for the contest. The Sixers were unable to find an offensive rhythm as they shot just 7-for-27 from deep while the Nets knocked down 14 triples.

Now, while the Big 3 played, the Sixers were missing key pieces VJ Edgecombe, Quentin Grimes, and Dominick Barlow due to illness. Philadelphia certainly missed the three athletes as coach Nick Nurse noticed their absence in the loss.

“Well, you know what we missed? We missed three athletes,” Nurse said. “That’s our—other than Tyrese, that’s our speed right there, right? Q, explosive athlete, VJ, athlete, and I think it just made it hard for Tyrese not to kind of have his other guy out there to crack into the paint a little bit and do some of the things that VJ does for sure.”

With that being said, while the Sixers certainly missed the athleticism that Edgecombe, Grimes, and Barlow bring to the floor, they still should have beaten a team like the Nets at this stage of the game. Philadelphia dropped to 0-3 when the Big 3 plays and 7-11 overall in when those three have started and finished a game together.

“They were definitely missed,” added George. “Their energy, their extra plays. I think those guys have a great feel for the game and just understanding where to be, the defensive mindset, so they were missed. They were, for sure, missed, but this is a very winnable game with those guys being down. So, we can’t make excuses that they weren’t there.”

Even without Edgecombe and the others, the Sixers had their chances. When a team only hits seven 3-pointers compared to 17 by the opponent, that is going to result in a loss more often than not. That’s how it works.

“I mean, obviously, we missed them, but I think, I mean, they made 17 3s,” Embiid added. “I won’t even count the last three 3s we made. The game was over by now. At one point, we were 4-for-whatever. So, we only made basically four 3s the whole game. So, it’s kind of hard winning like that one, whether it’s mid-range, 3s are not going in. So, obviously, we missed them, but it’s kinda hard to win games when you’re not making shots.”

The Sixers will begin a 5-game road trip on Friday when they take on the Chicago Bulls after Christmas.