3 observations after Sixers early season misery deepens in loss to Clippers originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Sixers’ early season misery deepened Wednesday night.
They suffered a 110–98 loss to the Clippers at Intuit Dome, falling to 1–6 through seven games, and Tyrese Maxey was ruled out early in the fourth quarter with right hamstring soreness.
The Sixers, Bucks and Jazz are now tied for the NBA’s worst record.
Norman Powell posted a game-high 26 points on 8-for-10 shooting and six assists. James Harden added 18 points and six assists.
In his first game against the Clippers since deciding to leave Los Angeles this summer and join the Sixers, Paul George had 18 points on 7-for-9 shooting and seven rebounds.
Joel Embiid served the first game of his three-game suspension for pushing Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes. Since the start of last season, the Sixers have gone 17-33 without Embiid.
The Sixers will complete their three-game West Coast trip on Friday night against the Lakers. Here are observations about the team’s defeat on Wednesday:
An unfortunate offense
George sank his first two shots of the night, both from long range. He scored the first by grabbing an offensive rebound off a missed Caleb Martin free throw and nailed the second as the shot clock wound down.
George also hit his only two jump attempts of the second quarter. It was no wonder he had a much more effective outing than his 4-for-14 Sixers debut Monday in loss to the Suns.
In his second game back from a left knee bone bruise, George again did not play extended shifts. As soon as he sat down, Maxey dialed down the aggression. The Sixers really wanted Harden to turn on Maxey, player he once showed many tricks of the trade. Maxey nailed a step-up jumper over Harden and dove to the rim for an and-one layup.
While the talents of Maxey and George shone in the first half, the Sixers’ offense was far from exemplary. They had loads of sloppy, out-of-sync turnovers – 10 in the first 15 minutes – and their half-court possessions often became stagnant and isolated. The Clippers held an 18-4 halftime advantage in points off turnovers.
The 52.5 assist percentage of the Sixers this season is the lowest in the NBA. They were under 50 percent on Wednesday with 19 assists on 40 made field goals.
Besides George being back on the court and Embiid’s expected season debut on the horizon (Nov. 12 vs. the Knicks)there is almost nothing positive about the state of the Sixers’ offense.
Not a lot of two-unit scoring pop this time around
Harden and the Clippers asked Andre Drummond to defend a lot of pick-and-rolls in drop coverage. Martin did well individually on Harden, who started 2 for 11 from the field. Martin generally picked the right places to be physical and the right places to be satisfied with solid defense.
After subpar games in his last couple of outings, Drummond (nine points, 10 rebounds) was better in Los Angeles. After a 15-minute night on Monday, Drummond logged 32 minutes against the Clippers. The evening included his first regular season three since the 2019-20 season.
Off the bench, the Sixers didn’t get anywhere near the same scoring jolt they got against the Suns.
Veteran guards Kyle Lowry and Eric Gordon combined for one point on 0-for-5 shooting in 37 total minutes. Sixers head coach Nick Nurse played Guerschon Yabusele just 10 minutes a game after his excellent 19-point performance in Phoenix. Although KJ Martin had a brilliant first-half shift that featured two fast-break dunks, it was strange to see Yabusele used exclusively at center and have his playing time dwindle to that extent.
Nightmare second half
The Clippers were decidedly better to open the third quarter. Nurse called a timeout less than three minutes into the third after a Terance Mann foul in transition.
Maxey went scoreless in the third quarter and the Sixers shot 0 for 8 from three-point range in the period. With his early exit, Maxey played 10 fewer minutes than his NBA-leading average of 41 entering the game.
A nurse told reporters in Los Angeles that the decision to remove Maxey was a precautionary one.
The Clippers’ lead ballooned in the third quarter after Harden found his groove. And when the Sixers attacked Harden on LA’s final possession of the third, the Clippers got the ball to Kris Dunn in the corner and he drove in for a dunk. The Sixers started the third quarter tied and ended it down 16 points.
Jared McCain played the entire fourth quarter and every available Sixer saw the floor Wednesday night. They are still looking for a second win and have two more games to manage without their superstar big man.
