The 76ers’ lopsided loss to Boston on Tuesday night put a spotlight on a problem that’s been hanging over Nick Nurse’s team since the season opened: the bench just isn’t producing enough.
Philadelphia fell 123-101 to the rival Celtics, and the gap in reserve scoring told a big part of the story. Boston’s second unit piled up 49 points, while the Sixers managed only 29. That kind of swing matters, especially for a team that’s supposed to be leaning on a star-heavy starting five.
Three weeks into the season, Philadelphia owns the NBA’s lowest-scoring bench at 22.6 points per game. Sacramento sits next at 24.7, and only four teams in the league are getting fewer than 30 points per game from their reserves. For a contender, that’s a rough place to be.
It’s not just about the scoring total, either. The Sixers have been playing only eight or nine guys most nights, which leaves little room for opponents to worry about what’s coming off the bench. Early in the year, that kind of tight rotation can box a team in instead of helping players settle into roles.
Boston showed the opposite approach on Tuesday. The Celtics, who rank fifth in the league in bench scoring at 44.1 points per game, kept bringing useful pieces into the game.
Payton Pritchard paced that group with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists. Sam Hauser added 12 points and five rebounds, Hugo Gonzalez scored 10 points, and Baylor Scheierman finished with five points, three rebounds and two assists.
The Sixers’ issues with reserve production trace back to both the roster and the coach. Philadelphia doesn’t have many dependable rotation options, especially in the frontcourt, and that’s a front office problem. The article also points out that Boston’s key bench contributors are mostly homegrown players the Celtics drafted and developed.
At the same time, Nurse hasn’t exactly opened the door for everyone on his roster. The only three rotation pieces he seems to trust are Anfernee Simons, Dean Wade and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, all of whom were signed in free agency this offseason. That leaves players like Justin Edwards and Labaron Philon Jr. stuck outside the rotation, with no real chance to earn more of Nurse’s confidence.
Nurse’s minutes distribution has been part of the issue, too. Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown and VJ Edgecombe are all among the top 25 in the NBA in minutes per game, and Maxey and Brown are both in the top 11. That’s classic Nurse: lean hard on the starters and keep the bench tight.
That formula may have worked for him before, but if Philadelphia wants to get where it thinks it can go this season, the balance has to change.
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