The Sixers went 11-5 during the regular season last season without Embiid, when Rivers was the coach. This season, they are 10-21 under Nick Nurse.
“It took guys getting confidence playing without him,” Doc Rivers said of playing without Joel Embiid. "… We did it, but it took a minute."Considering the superstar center’s already-significant health issues, Rivers made it a priority to solve that puzzle. And he largely achieved that goal, as the Sixers went 11-5 during the regular season last season without the eventual NBA Most Valuable Player.
Nurse is known to experiment with rosters and schemes. A matchup against the Bucks reminded that he is credited with devising the build-a-wall blueprint against bulldozing two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. Nurse also threw out a box-and-1 defense against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. And he turned a roster full of like-sized Toronto Raptors into a playoff team, pushing the Sixers to six games two seasons ago.
Embiid was on pace to again lead the NBA in scoring , fueled by an automatic mid-range jumper, forceful frame and ability to operate with the ball in his hands in the middle of the floor. But he also had continued to progress as a facilitator, averaging a career-best 5.7 assists for one of the NBA’s most efficient offenses. And he is an intimidating defensive anchor.Rivers had the All-Star, pre-holdout version of Ben Simmons in his first season.
Rivers, though, called the Sixers’ defensive pressure “their lifeline right now,” despite missing perimeter pests De’Anthony Melton and Robert Covington for the bulk of the past two months. Thursday initially followed that formula, when the Sixers parlayed 10 Milwaukee first-half turnovers into 17 points. Only nabbing five takeaways for six points after the break, however, was “probably the difference in the game,” Nurse said.
The Sixers can, however, make up that scoring gap “when Tyrese has a big night,” Nurse said. That was the case Thursday, when he oozed emotion while banging shots from beyond the arc and getting all the way to the basket in his second game back from a concussion. But after he reentered the game in the fourth quarter, the Bucks blitzed him with multiple defenders and took away the pocket pass to the big men.
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