November 25, 2024
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Will the Sixers ever be able to count on Joel Embiid and Paul George's availability?
Happy Monday! Of course, the one team in town people really want to talk about right now: the 3-13 Sixers, whose spiral continued on Sunday evening with a 26-point blowout loss on their home floor against old friend James Harden and the Los Angeles Clippers.
As we do every week, let's kick the next few days off with 5 Sixers thoughts:
MORE: Sixers blown out by Clippers
Joel Embiid, Paul George and Kyle Lowry were all ruled out for Sunday's matchup in advance, and each one is set to be reevaluated in the next day or two, with updates to come.
Embiid was ruled out for two games on Friday night due to swelling in his left knee, which held him out of that night's win against the Brooklyn Nets and Sunday's disastrous loss to the Clippers. Embiid's status for Wednesday night's game against the Houston Rockets remains TBD.
"He was dealing with some swelling in his knee today, which is why he was questionable, got to the arena and was ruled out," Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said after Friday night's game. "We're going to treat it all weekend, so he'll be out for Sunday as well. And hopefully, Monday we'll be able to give you an update on where we're at, and hopefully it'll be in good shape."
The Sixers are not practicing on Monday -- Nurse indicated after Sunday's game that the team would take the day for "recovery" -- so that update could possibly wait one more day.
Before Sunday's loss, Nurse confirmed that George -- who suffered his second left knee bone bruise in as many months last week -- had done on-court work on Saturday, a sign that this injury is genuinely less serious than the one which came before it. A Wednesday return sounds at least conceivable for George, though one would expect the Sixers to be cautious with the 34-year-old, even amid the team's 3-13 start to the season.
Lowry began the season with six terrific games, only to follow it up with a brutal seven-game stretch which put his status as a rotation regular in doubt. Lowry just cannot create separation off the dribble anymore, and across those seven games he only made six total baskets.
Before last week's game in Memphis, the Sixers said Lowry had suffered a right hip strain and would be out for at least three games. That three-game period has passed, and some sort of update on Lowry should be coming soon.
Recent Sixers injury updates
The Sixers' hard-nosed wing took a trio of hard falls on Friday night, heading to the locker room twice during the first half alone. Martin remained in the game for the duration, even knocking down a late triple that helped seal the deal for a Sixers team desperate to get back in the win column.
On Sunday, though, Martin played only 13 minutes -- half of his previous season-low, 26 -- in part because he only played in the first 76 seconds of second-half action.
Is Martin banged up?
"He had the little hard fall the other night," Nurse said. "Back was a little sore. Wasn't sore enough to keep him out. There's nothing in the pictures to show that there's anything seriously wrong. Just playing through a lot of pain and obviously was struggling as well on top of it. So just trying not to go too far with it."
Martin, who shot 1-of-8 from the field in the first half of Sunday's loss and did not attempt a shot during his minute and change of play in the third quarter, is shooting 41.2 percent from the field and 30.4 percent from three-point range on the season while averaging 2.0 turnovers per game -- by far a career-worst mark.
He continues to battle -- as advertised -- but the Sixers need him to figure out whatever has been going on with his jump-shooting mechanics. Of course, they also need players like Embiid and George to be both available and effective so Martin can find a natural role as a background piece on the offensive end of the floor.
Well, it turns out the 20-year-old rookie was not going to score 20-plus points on absurd efficiency every single night for the remainder of his career.
McCain crashed down a bit on Sunday night, shooting just 3-of-15 from the field and 2-of-11 from three-point range. His approach was not much different than it had been in previous strong outings, and looking back at his shot diet, neither were the attempts he generated for himself. He just failed to knock down a bunch of looks he has usually made during his rookie season.
This was an inevitable scenario for McCain, who will figure out if there are any serious lessons to be learned from his down game and adjust accordingly.
McCain still came just two points away from extending his 20-point streak, though, because he found ways to manufacture scoring opportunities at the free throw line. McCain had never attempted more than six free throws in a game prior to Sunday, when he doubled his career-high, shooting 10-of-12 from the line:
Jared McCain attempted 12 free throws on Sunday night against the Clippers, doubling his previous career-high. pic.twitter.com/6tsTWZw1fj
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) November 25, 2024
McCain set an NBA record when he made the first 32 free throw attempts of his career, a streak which ended with a miss against Brooklyn. After his pair of misses against the Clippers, McCain is now 44-of-47 from the line on the year -- good for a 93.6 free throw percentage.
With George's absence, KJ Martin has seen increased opportunity. He spent two weeks out of Nurse's rotation following a strong West Coast trip, the victim of a numbers game more than anything else.
KJ Martin has not done anything outstanding during his pair of games back in consistent action -- many of his minutes on Sunday came after the game had been put out of reach early -- but continues to be solid. The fifth-year forward crashes the glass with extreme aggression, utilizing remarkable athletic tools in the process. He can toggle between all sorts of defensive assignments -- not only can he defend wings and bigs, but on Sunday he spent multiple lengthy stretches as the Sixers' primary defender against Harden.
The skill that continues to impress me the most, though, is KJ Martin's passing. He just has a knack for making smart reads and doing so very quickly.
KJ Martin just knows how to make reads and pass: pic.twitter.com/guYePPpz8L
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) November 25, 2024
This is a skill that could make Martin very valuable when playing alongside perimeter players who frequently draw double-teams, and the Sixers now have three of those between George, McCain and Tyrese Maxey.
What a day it was for these three, who appeared in two games in one day.
Adem Bona, Justin Edwards and Lester Quinones were all with the Sixers' G League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats, for a Sunday matinee against the Westchester Knicks. The Blue Coats notched a 131-125 win, with Quinones' 29 points leading the way.
Edwards scored nine points, pulled four rebounds and nabbed three steals in 31 minutes, while Bona played 28 minutes and collected 17 points, seven rebounds, two assists, a block, two steals and one monstrous dunk that was ultimately called back upon review:
GET OUT OF ADEM BONA’S WAY! 😤@sixers draftee runs the floor and throws down this ferocious poster on assignment with the @blue_coats. pic.twitter.com/Q8AU0ym7OA
— NBA G League (@nbagleague) November 24, 2024
The three of them quickly departed Delaware for Philadelphia, arriving in the Sixers' locker room an hour and change prior to tip-off. (Sixers two-way point guard Jeff Dowtin Jr. also played in the Blue Coats' win before returning to Philadelphia, but he was not active for the Sixers hours later). And when the wheels fell off for the Sixers, each one was summoned to finish the game.
For Edwards, the Philadelphia native playing for his hometown team, a wild day culminated in him making his NBA debut and scoring his first NBA basket:
Right place, right time for Philly-native Justin Edwards with his first NBA points tonight. pic.twitter.com/YhIlkuDrpL
— Liberty Ballers (@Liberty_Ballers) November 25, 2024
"It is kind of different," Edwards told PhillyVoice in between games about the idea of appearing in two contests in one day.
"I'm just finding myself [in Delaware], building my confidence. So everything is good right now."
