Through 12 games, the Philadelphia 76ers look less like a finished product and more like a team still trying to find its footing.
That’s not exactly a shock. Before the season even tipped off, LeBron James and others had warned that a group this new, this top-heavy, and this loaded with high-usage talent would need time to sort itself out. The Sixers are living that reality now.
What has made the early record look better than the underlying performance is a pair of surprises. The first is defense.
With LeBron James and Jaylen Brown alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, the expectation was obvious: plenty of scoring, plenty of firepower, and maybe not enough resistance on the other end. Instead, Philadelphia has been much better defensively than most expected.
The second surprise has been the team’s knack for late-game rescue acts. Maxey and the Sixers have spent a lot of the first half digging out of holes, and they’ve repeatedly found a way back.
But that kind of thing tends to have an expiration date. You can’t keep living on comeback wins, especially against quality opponents.
The Cleveland Cavaliers made that point last week. The Boston Celtics drove it home again Tuesday night.
The numbers behind the starting five tell a more sobering story. Philadelphia’s first unit hasn’t been together for every game, but it has still logged 120 minutes.
In that stretch, the group has produced a 104.1 offensive rating, which ranks in the seventh percentile league-wide. The starting five has also been outscored 278-285.
That margin isn’t massive, but it’s not what you want to see from a lineup that, on paper, is supposed to be the league’s best offensive engine.
The biggest issue is efficiency. Maxey has been the hottest scorer on the roster early, but the stars around him have not been nearly as sharp as expected.
James is shooting 43% from the field and 23.7% from three. Embiid, who usually hovers near 50% from the floor, is down to 37% overall and just 12% from deep.
This is still the NBA, where hot and cold stretches can flip in a hurry. The expectation is that players with this much experience will eventually shoot their way out of the slump and start producing the way they were supposed to. But right now, despite the 9-3 record and the defensive gains, the offense has not matched the hype.
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Sixers Just Lost Another Possible Answer Behind Embiid
The Sixers search for frontcourt stability has become a familiar subplot, and it only got a little more complicated with Dwight Powell now settling in with Fenerbahce in the EuroLeague after the Mavericks moved on from him. Philadelphia has been working through a shortage of dependable backup centers, a problem made worse by injuries and a thin free-agent market that has not offered many clean solutions behind Joel Embiid.
Powell was the kind of veteran stopgap the Sixers could have used as they try to survive the long stretch of the season without overtaxing Embiid. Instead, they will likely have to keep looking for another body and another layer of insurance at center, because the current options do not offer much security if the rotation gets tested again. [Read more 🡒]
Sixers Overcame One Scary Joel Embiid Moment In Much Needed Win
The 76ers needed a steady night at home, and they got one after shaking off an early first-quarter deficit to beat the Raptors 123-112. Tyrese Maxey kept the offense moving with 27 points and eight assists, while Joel Embiid still managed 20 points even after a brief knee scare that had the building holding its breath for a moment.
For a team that has already had to navigate absences, the win carried extra value as Philadelphia improved to 10-3 and kept itself on track in the Eastern Conference race. The Sixers also did it with a shortened rotation, while Toronto was missing key pieces of its own, making Embiids early scare feel like the kind of subplot that could have changed the entire feel of the night. [Read more 🡒]
Sixers Got The Relief They Needed After Joel Embiid's Early Scare
Joel Embiid gave the 76ers an early scare against Toronto when he went down with a knee injury, a moment that briefly shifted the mood in a game Philadelphia was already trying to manage without LeBron James in the lineup. The Raptors were shorthanded themselves, missing Kawhi Leonard and Scottie Barnes, but the bigger concern for the Sixers was whether their centerpiece would be able to continue after the opening jolt.
Embiid did return, and Philadelphia steadied itself enough to pull away for a 123-112 win after a sluggish start. Tyrese Maxey and Anfernee Simons helped spark the offense with key plays when the Sixers needed them most, turning what could have been a nervous night into a much-needed result. [Read more 🡒]