Not easy for Sixers to solve a puzzle without their biggest piece

CAMDEN – The Sixers played with a frenetic style early in the season, when they were without Joel Embiid. It was a big factor in helping them win 10 of the first 16 games they played while their star player watched from the bench.

That style has not been found again recently. Nor have many wins, as Thursday, the team lost for the seventh time in their last eight games without Embiid. The Sixers now sit at 30-25 and are currently the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference, just a half game up on the Orlando Magic.

The availability of Embiid remains uncertain, as the team announced after practice on Friday that doctors said he can continue his on-court workouts. He was on the court Friday, though most of the team was not. Embiid probably got work in with player development coaches and maybe some of the deep subs. He was expected to travel with the team to New Orleans for the start of a three-game road trip, but no status on him playing was given.

So the search will have to continue as to how the team can best play without their 7'2" center.

"Certainly, the guys found a comfort level of playing with him there for a while," said coach Nick Nurse. 

"The truth of the matter is it's not that easy, shifting these styles of play all the time. That we handled it really well, and it went even better when we had Joel and PG (Paul George) out there and stuff started to build, and now that it's not, is probably understandable. I had a pretty long talk with most of those guys this morning. Yeah, it's difficult. I get it. But I also want to go back and figure out what we did, and our mindset, and the pace that we played at, and the threes we generated, and the things we did. I think people are feeling the frustration at the offensive end. Our defense was also generating some pretty good offense and transition and stuff like that, too.

"It's kind of a big puzzle. I thought that they played with a lot more confidence and aggressiveness and all that, early on. And then the flow changed, for whatever reason. And again, it is difficult, it is hard. I understand that. Hey, it's not that easy on the coaching staff to keep juggling it, right? I just think they've gotten a little less aggressive. Last night you come down, and everybody is stuck for a couple of seconds. We just didn't play that way early. It was just faster at attacking, and so much more confidence and bounce. We just can't let the difficulty take that away from us. We've got to get that edge back a little bit."

A couple of things could be contributing factors. One, of course, is fatigue. In Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, the catalysts for the speed that Nurse alludes to, you have a pair of guards who are logging major court time. Maxey leads the league in minutes per game at 38.6, while the rookie Edgecombe is going 35.4 minutes a game. When there is no Embiid, or George, the offense has to roll through them, and that's a heavy burden for two smaller guards to carry so often.

Another factor is teams adjusting to the Sixers without Embiid. Maxey is pretty much double-teamed as soon as he comes out of the locker room lately, and it has caused trouble for the team offensively. Add to that, Edgecombe was an unknown at the beginning of the season, but now teams have a much better read on him. Scoring and passing that came so easily for the two of them early on isn't happening as easily now, despite the speed they play with. Still, their coach wants even more of it.

"They were playing with tremendous speed, and I think that was probably the talking point about how fast we were moving up and down the floor," said Nurse. "It could be some of that (fatigue), no doubt. I don't want to discount that as a thing, but I just think it's more of, we've got to get the thing in gear quick, and be more aggressive, and cut it loose a little bit more. I just feel like we're a little hesitant. You get knocked around a little bit, you get beat a couple times. That's one of the big tricks in this league, to be able to hold your confidence when things aren't going perfectly."

Playing with speed is also so much easier when you are in tune with your teammates, and that is just a luxury the Sixers don't really have right now. With Embiid and George out, that means two subs now have to start, and the rotation coming off the bench seems to change daily. But with what Nurse does have to work with now, he believes playing fast is key.

"I think the speed and athleticism, especially that those two guys (Maxey and Edgecombe) have, and then you sprinkle in some of the other guards we've got, we've got guys with athleticism and speed, I think that's playing to their strengths," said Nurse.

"I would still say, and I just talked to Joel for a long time, he said the same thing that, 'They need to play faster even when I'm out there. They wait for me too much. They need to blast ahead and take opportunities that are there, and if they're not, I'll get down there eventually to get into some of the half court offense.' Just making sure that we know what we're doing, trying to put pressure on people early and do it with a little bit more of an assertive mindset. I thought early in the year our guards were creating offense for each other a lot more. And that has gotten a little less."

It could be the Sixers' doing, or because of defenses, or maybe a combination of both. The hope for the team is that they won't have to figure it out much longer without Embiid.