After a disastrous collapse on Monday night in Miami which caused an additional wave of skepticism about these Sixers -- and incited a team meeting in which Tyrese Maxey reportedly called out Joel Embiid for constantly being late to team activities and needing to exhibit better habits --  the Sixers were back in action Wednesday night.

Looking to... improve... to 3-11 on the season, they faced a Memphis Grizzlies team missing not just All-Star point guard Ja Morant, but five other players, too -- including rookie center Zach Edey, impressive wing Vince Williams Jr. and veteran guard Marcus Smart. The Sixers, meanwhile, welcomed Maxey back to the fold for his first appearance since suffering a hamstring injury on Nov. 6. Maxey entered the game with the expectation that a heavy minutes restriction would be in place.

And then... Maxey barely played, George suffered another left knee injury and the Sixers failed to play good basketball for more than a few minutes at a time. They have the worst record in the NBA -- again. Here is what stood out from the Sixers' 117-111 loss in Memphis:

Maxey returns, Sixers' Big 3 makes season debut

Wednesday's game marked the first time Embiid, Maxey and Paul George were all available for a Sixers team which had to wait until its 14th game of the season for its $135 million "Big 3" of All-Stars to share the floor. It was also the first time Maxey and emerging rookie guard Jared McCain started alongside each other in the backcourt.

Maxey's absence has hurt the Sixers' ability to win games, but it did pave the way for the 20-year-old McCain to show he is already capable of handling a significant offensive role and become the early favorite to win the NBA's Rookie of the Year Award (the last Sixer to take home that trophy was Ben Simmons).

Point guard rotation shaken up again

Maxey's return was not the only change to Sixers head coach Nick Nurse's rotation of ball-handlers. In the team's loss to the Heat, aside from an eight-minute cameo at point guard from McCain, the Sixers had Kyle Lowry or Jeff Dowtin Jr. running the show at all times. But neither player was active in Memphis.

Lowry was sidelined for this game with a right hip strain, which Tony Jones of The Athletic reported on Tuesday would keep the struggling 38-year-old out for at least three games.

During the first six games of the season, Lowry averaged 9.8 points and 23.1 minutes while shooting 58.1 percent from the field and 60.0 percent from beyond the arc. In his next seven games, he only scored 3.0 points per game despite averaging 25.1 minutes. He made six total shots during that seven-game span.

Dowtin, meanwhile, was sent to the G League ahead of Wednesday's game. It has been tough sledding for the two-way point guard as of late despite the confidence of Nurse.

Veteran Reggie Jackson -- who had a strong showing against the then-unbeaten Cleveland Cavaliers but has failed to impress in any of his other appearances amid sporadic usage -- rejoined Nurse's rotation in the absences of Lowry and Dowtin.

Embiid scores 10 points in first quarter

Embiid's eight minutes and 42 seconds of action to kick off this game did not represent the best of the former NBA MVP -- he committed a sloppy turnover and airballed a pair of shots -- but it did represent progress. He was assertive and aggressive as a scorer, as he has typically been during his career but noticeably had not been during his first three games of 2024-25.

Embiid shot 3-of-7 from the field, but did draw a pair of fouls and knocked down all four of his attempts from the free throw line.

McCain sees ball-handling role expand early

Even with Maxey back on the floor and a traditionally ball-dominant player Jackson in the rotation, McCain saw a noticeable increase in ball-handling usage. He played all but the final seven seconds of the first quarter, and was bringing the ball up for the Sixers on the majority of their possessions.

The results were largely impressive, with McCain striking a reasonable balance between hunting his own shots and creating looks for his teammates:

He had another assist in the first quarter, setting up a Guerschon Yabusele triple:

Yabusele was out of Nurse's regular rotation for the first time in his Sixers tenure during their loss in Miami.

Nurse goes with deeper rotation as Andre Drummond provides a boost

On top of starters Maxey, McCain, George, Caleb Martin and Embiid, Nurse used five reserves as part of his regular rotation: Jackson, Yabusele, Drummond, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Eric Gordon. Nine-man rotations are the norm for Nurse (and most NBA head coaches), but as he looks for a spark from somewhere, perhaps it is not the worst idea to give more players chances to prove they are capable of providing it.

Drummond's season has been rocky, but he gave the Sixers a strong eight-minute stint to open his night, scoring eight points, pulling five rebounds and nabbing two steals.

A late addition to the Sixers' rotation in the first half: Ricky Council IV, who has struggled to leave his mark on either end of the floor so far this season despite obvious potential. Council replaced Gordon midway through the second quarter, giving Nurse an 11-man first-half rotation.

Maxey only logs five-plus minutes

When the Sixers have players on minutes restrictions, those players will often be used in short bursts, ranging from five to seven minutes at a time. So, Maxey checking out of the game after the five minutes and 28 seconds of play was not surprising or concerning.

What was surprising and concerning: Maxey not checking back in for the remainder of the first half. He never returned to the floor prior to intermission, and the Sixers sputtered in the final moments of the half, allowing Memphis to carry a 10-point lead into the locker room.

Grizzlies sharpshooter Desmond Bane, asked to handle a significant offensive workload in the absences of Morant and others, scored 16 points in the first half, knocking down four threes while also grabbing four rebounds and dishing out three assists. Bane and Martin had a tense back-and-forth which resulted in double-technicals.

Maxey returned to the floor to begin the second half, which allowed a few people to regulate their heartbeats. And then...

George goes to locker room after bad landing

On the Sixers' first defensive possession of the second half, George grabbed a rebound. He landed and came up lame. Nurse had to burn a timeout immediately, and George walked under his own to the locker room.

George had failed to impact the game in the first half, scoring just two points on 1-of-6 shooting in 16 minutes. Aside from a few standout performances powered by impressive shot-making, the nine-time All-Star has continually struggled to find his footing within the Sixers offense.

As George's offensive utility has fluctuated -- at times he has been the team's go-to scorer, at times he has been asked to facilitate and at other times he has been tasked with finding a blend of both roles -- he has been unable to gain comfort with any role. It is not a good sign for the 34-year-old.

Yabusele provides a spark in George's place

Replacing George in the starting lineup at the beginning of the second half was Yabusele, and after knocking down two triples in the first half, he knocked down three more in the third quarter to help keep the Sixers afloat and inch them closer to erasing the deficit they found themselves in.

Yabusele's night out of Nurse's rotation appears to have been an aberration. He should be firmly in the picture for the foreseeable future.

George ruled out with left knee hyperextension as Sixers fall to 2-12

Embiid finally got going in the third quarter, but the Sixers could not trim Memphis' lead by more than a point by the end of the frame. His supporting cast was nonexistent, with Maxey looking like a shell of himself in extremely limited minutes and George in the locker room.

And then, the toughest blow of the night: for the second consecutive month, George has been diagnosed with left knee hyperextension. He missed close to a month after suffering the same injury in a preseason game -- later called a bone bruise -- and played under minutes restrictions for his first several games.

Just when the Sixers thought they had a "Big 3," it evaporated -- as did their chances of winning any games on their road trip. Despite a valiant effort in the final moments which allowed them to trim the lead to four points in the final minute of the game, the Sixers are now 2-12 -- the worst record in the NBA.

Up next: With their three-game road trip now in the rearview mirror, the Sixers will return home for a trio of home games. They will face the Brooklyn Nets on Friday, the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday and the Houston Rockets next Wednesday.

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