CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers have nine games left in the 2023-24 season and there is still much work to be done. The Sixers are awaiting the return of Joel Embiid to the floor, but coach Nick Nurse wants everybody to be on the same page.
For now, the Sixers look to continue to pick off wins until Embiid can return. Philadelphia has played well and showed a great deal of fight in these recent games without the big fella. The Sixers hung in there against the Lakers, Kings and Clippers before falling because they don’t have enough offense.
However, it’s clear the Sixers are beginning to find their way.
“I really think things are heading in the right direction with a lot of the stuff that we emphasize and what we’re about, right?” said Nurse at practice on Thursday. “You just continue to keep pushing some of that stuff out. Just continue to tweak things schematically, but then again, also just continue to tweak what individual guys are doing and what they’re seeing and trying to just continue to make the right play.”
To Nurse’s point, the Sixers had their chances in the loss to the Clippers. The officials made a huge mistake on the final Kelly Oubre Jr. drive, but the game should not have been in that position. If the Sixers would have executed down the stretch, they would have won the game.
That is what Nurse is trying to get across to everybody.
“You’re always trying to cut that margin of error down, right?” Nurse explained. “I think that’s that’s where we’re at right now. There’s at least 10 possessions last night (Wednesday) I’d like to start over with the ball again. Like, can we cut that number down? Four or five? The same thing defensively, there’s five or six blown coverages can we get that number down to three? Or whatever it is.”
The Sixers begin a two-game road trip on Friday when they face the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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