NEW YORK — The 76ers were, once again, an undermanned squad.
Joel Embiid missed Wednesday night’s game against the Brooklyn Nets with left knee injury management. The Sixers listed Tyrese Maxey as questionable before quickly downgrading him to out with a right knee contusion. Kyle Lowry (right knee injury management) and Eric Gordon (sprained right wrist) both sat out their second consecutive game.
So this game was set up for Paul George to take over the scoring load, right? Wrong.
The nine-time All-Star, who was the Sixers’ big free-agent acquisition, had two points on 1-for-7 shooting to go with six rebounds, four assists, two steals, three blocks, and three turnovers in a 100-96 loss to the Nets at the Barclays Center. George had zero points on 0-for-3 shooting, two rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block in 18 minutes, 40 seconds of action in the first half. He scored his only points on a 6-foot jumper 1:48 into the second half.
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“They just blitzed me anytime I had the ball, whether it was pick-and-roll, whether I had it up top,” George said of the Nets’ defensive game plan. “I tried to just counter that with playing through my teammates. Try to make the game easy.
“We got good shots for the most part. It just wasn’t enough shots made.”
George has a knack for making the right play by passing up a good shot for a great one. He was focused on doing that, providing defense, and being a vocal leader. At one point, George left the bench to coach up Adem Bona near the scorer’s table while a teammate was attempting free throws.
But this would have been the perfect night to look for his own shot in an attempt to take over. It didn’t help matters that his shot was off and he had a tough time getting by defenders.
But the Sixers may have benefited from his being more aggressive.
“I think he had a couple of opportunities there,” coach Nick Nurse said. “But they double-teamed him a lot. They weren’t going to give him a ton of looks. They pressured him up the floor when he got in actions, even off-ball stuff, they would send two to him. So he didn’t really have much choice on a lot of them to move the ball.
“I thought he did turn down a couple that we really expected him to shoot. But again, he’s moving the ball, playing hard on D, all that kind of stuff. Did we need him to score some more points? Yeah. But we needed lots of people, too, as well.”
The loss dropped them to 20-34 and extended their losing streak to five games heading into the All-Star break. It also marked their seventh loss in their last eight games. Meanwhile, the Nets (20-34) have won three straight and six of seven games.
But with Embiid and Maxey out, the Sixers unveiled their 33rd different starting lineup of the season. Newcomers Jared Butler and Quentin Grimes started alongside Guerschon Yabusele, Kelly Oubre Jr., and George.
Oubre and Grimes each scored a season-high 30 points in the loss.
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Grimes made 4 of 9 three-pointers to go with nine rebounds and four assists in his fourth game with the Sixers after being acquired from the Dallas Mavericks. The 24-year-old was impactful from the start, scoring seven of the Sixers’ first 11 points on 3-for-4 shooting. He finished nine first-quarter points.
Butler, a two-way point guard, had eight points, nine assists, two blocks, and four turnovers in his third game since being acquired in a trade from the Washington Wizards.
D’Angelo Russell paced the Nets with 22 points.
Maxey sidelined
This was the first game that Maxey has missed Jan. 14 and his eighth overall.
“I don’t know much yet,” Nurse said. “I did allude to it postgame last night as you guys know and I kind of heard quickly that something was bothering him physically. Which is why I didn’t want to speculate on kind of the whole ‘How come he didn’t get going?’ and all that kind of stuff.”
Following Tuesday’s loss to Toronto Raptors, Maxey said he was fine and indicated he would play vs. the Nets.
The fifth-year player received treatment on his knee Wednesday morning. However, Maxey was added to the injury report, then scratched from Wednesday’s game once his knee didn’t improve to the point where he could play.
Nurse doesn’t know exactly when Maxey injured his knee on Tuesday. He just knows it was a knee-to-knee injury.
“He’s a little sore right now,” Nurse said. “I don’t have anything on where it’s going from here yet. More information and MRIs and things like that. So this is where we are right now.”
Up next
Following the NBA All-Star break, the Sixers will entertain the Boston Celtics on Feb. 20 at the Wells Fargo Center (7 p.m., TNT). This will mark their third meeting. The Sixers defeated the Celtics, 118-114, on Christmas Day at TD Garden. Boston prevailed, 118-110, on Feb. 2 at The Center.