MIAMI — The Philadelphia 76ers picked up a 109-105 win over the Miami Heat on Thursday, but there were teaching moments for coach Nick Nurse. He wasn’t happy with the team’s lack of organization as it continues to re-integrate Joel Embiid.
The Sixers had good moments of zone offense. Tyrese Maxey and Embiid did a good job helping the new guys get into the right spots, but there were also moments of stagnation. Philadelphia has to fix that.
“I mean, we did pretty good tonight,” Maxey said after the win on Thursday. “It can be better for sure, but yeah. I think we were good. I think we knew what we had to run. It’s funny, we gotta get some of the new guys acclimated to the cutting and the spacing in certain situations, but I think it was good.”
Kyle Lowry, Buddy Hield Cam Payne and others have to know when and where to move and cut to get the ball moving in the right direction with Embiid.
“This is a new team,” Maxey said. “This is the second time KLow’s played with Joel and Buddy and Cam Payne and some of those guys and KJ got some more minutes tonight. He didn’t play as much at the beginning of the year so he doesn’t know sometimes but you know, it’s hard. It’s hard.”
After two months of not playing with him, Embiid returns and everything revolves around him on the offensive end. With five games left, understanding where the new guys have to be on the floor will be an obvious priority before the playoffs begin.
“It’s hard to play with a guy like Jo,” Maxey finished. “You have to really rep. You gotta really practice it and gotta kind of move around him and know when to cut, when not to cut when to space, when not to space, so we’ll get better at it. I mean, we have to have some time to get better at it. It’ll be better next time.”
The Sixers will face the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday to continue their three-game road trip.
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