PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers fell to 7-16 on the season without Joel Embiid as they fell to the Milwaukee Bucks 119-98 at home on Sunday. The Sixers trailed by as many as 25 and couldn’t get into much of an offensive rhythm on the day.
On a day when most of the Sixers really struggled on the offensive end, one player who stands out is Tobias Harris. Philadelphia’s current No. 2 with Embiid out, Harris shot just 3-for-11 for eight points and eight rebounds on the afternoon.
Harris is such a rhythm player and the Sixers need him to be better on the offensive end in order to stay afloat without the big fella. They have to find a way to get him back moving in the right direction.
“Just finding a way to get in a better flow out there,” said Harris of his recent slump. “I think, obviously, with the way that we’ve been playing, we gotta figure out a way to get a little bit more structure there in the half-court offense. Just keep being aggressive and looking for the shots when they’re there, but outside of that, keep making the right play.”
There are ebbs and flows throughout the course of an 82-game season. It’s such a long season and guys are just going to miss shots at times, but in this specific situation when considering everything going on with Embiid, the Sixers have to find ways to get Harris back in his rhythm.
“I think more times than not, getting into the paint, if the shot is there, take it,” Harris continued. “If there’s an open man, kick the ball, but I’m a person who prides himself on efficiency and that’s a forefront of my game is finding some easy baskets out there on the floor and some easy looks for myself to get going and just stay with it.”
Harris was just a part of the problem on Sunday. Kelly Oubre Jr. shot just 5-for-15 and Buddy Hield shot just 4-for-13 from the floor. The Sixers just had a tough day overall.
“Offensively, we didn’t get the looks we really wanted out there,” Harris finished. “Too many one pass shots for us. Too many possessions with not more than one pass. That second half, we did a better job of attacking the paint and finding some open looks there that just didn’t fall for us, but overall in the first half, I thought a lot of that was due to us giving them open 3s and them being able to knock it down. That hurt us.”
Harris will look to get going again on Tuesday when the Sixers take on the Boston Celtics on the road.
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