{"id":695034,"date":"2026-04-03T01:35:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T01:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/695034\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T01:35:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T01:35:18","slug":"paul-george-wants-sixers-to-improve-in-specific-area-before-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/695034\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul George wants Sixers to improve in specific area before playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 2, 2026, 7:17 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON — As the Philadelphia 76ers move into the final six games of the regular season, there is still work to do. They are currently the No. 6 seed in the East which represents the final guaranteed playoff spot and would keep them out of the play-in. The Sixers are in the driver’s seat for that spot as long as they take care of business.<\/p>\n

Paul George, the team’s veteran and one of their leaders, knows there is still work to be done. While Philadelphia handled business in a 153-131 win over the Washington Wizards<\/a> on Wednesday, the 131 points given up is a problem.<\/p>\n

Yes, the game is fast now and the possessions pile up, but George wants the Sixers to tighten up on that end of the floor.<\/p>\n

“We just gotta continue to get better,” George said after the win. “We gotta be a better defensive team. That’s what it comes down to. Defense wins. Especially, when you’re talking about competing for a championship. We gotta be a better defensive team. That’s really on my mind going down the stretch.”<\/p>\n

At the moment, the Sixers rank 18th in the league in defensive rating. For a team to be a true contender, that number is normally in the top 10, but the Sixers have had their issues on that end of the floor at times. That is something that George is looking for the team to tighten up as it continues with its playoff push.<\/p>\n

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With six games left, things can change and the Sixers can build some momentum heading into the postseason. George has been a part of some terrific defensive teams in his time with the Indiana Pacers, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Los Angeles Clippers. Coach Nick Nurse has looked to him on plenty of occasions to be the guy who sets the tone on that end, and he doesn’t take it lightly.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve played for a lot of great defensive teams,” George explained. “I\u2019ve played for a lot of great defensive coaches. So, a lot of that has just been instilled in me and they trust me on a lot of those great defensive teams, and so it just comes through being in it time and time again.”<\/p>\n

Heading down the stretch, George will need to take on more defensive responsibility to make sure he and the Sixers are on the same page on the defensive end of the floor. He will continue to talk and make sure guys are in the right spots on that end and keep the team moving in the right direction.<\/p>\n

“The experience kind of carries over to where I kind of can see things and just direct the guys where they need to go, seeing how plays are going to happen before they happen,” George finished. “Just trying to be a step ahead. So, I think that’s just a gift that I’ve gotten over the years, but again, it’s just been the experience playing for really good defensive teams.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 2, 2026, 7:17 p.m. ET WASHINGTON — As the Philadelphia 76ers move into the final six games…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":695035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3769],"tags":[679,72400,7,6,678,207,3817,72473,72474,72404,72897,72405,72406,72403],"class_list":{"0":"post-695034","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-76ers","8":"tag-76ers","9":"tag-accessfree","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","14":"tag-philadelphia76ers","15":"tag-sstssportsnbasixers","16":"tag-sstsnsixers","17":"tag-tagbasketball","18":"tag-tagnick-nurse","19":"tag-tagoverall-positive","20":"tag-tagsports-news","21":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116338211502323955","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=695034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/695035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=695034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=695034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=695034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}