Paul George on woeful 76ers after 8th straight loss: ‘Showing no signs of a team that will compete’

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Yes, the Philadelphia 76ers played without two-time NBA scoring champion and the always-injured Joel Embiid. Yes, they haven’t been a playoff contender this season, even with two other All-Stars in the starting lineup.

Yet, there it was, on the scoreboard, on all the social media derision, on the top of the implausibility-meter when the 76ers broke camp for the Bahamas.

That was no misprint on the ticker in the fourth quarter: Bulls 136, 76ers 86.

Down 50!

Did the Sixers quit? Do the Sixers realize — with or without whatever Embiid and his balky left knee can give them — their season is over?

“I don’t want to believe that,” nine-time All-Star Paul George said. “I don’t sense that in the locker room and I don’t believe that.”

George has little choice publicly but to stand by the Sixers, even as they lost their eighth straight game and 10th of 11 overall — 142-110 on Monday nigh t to the 23-win Chicago Bulls — and see even the odds of a play-in tournament berth dip to the point where fans are already looking at next season.

Not that it promises anything better than the mess that’s unraveled in South Philly this year.

“I’m not quite sure what fell apart to give up 140 points, at home, against the Chicago Bulls,” George said.

The real bad news — you know, before six Bulls scored at least 15 points — came hours ahead of this debacle when the Sixers offered no real update on Embiid. Embiid missed his 38th game of the season for the sagging Sixers, and all options — from rest to potential surgery to playing through pain — remain on the table, depending on the results of continued testing and imaging.

Embiid has played in just 19 of 57 games for the Sixers, who fell to 20-37 an have only a faint shot at earning a berth in the NBA play-in tournament. Embiid has averaged 23.8 points — he averaged at least 30 and won two scoring titles the last three seasons — and scored only 29 points combined in his last two games.

“I don’t think anybody envisioned it going like this,” coach Nick Nurse said. “It’s disappointing on a lot of levels. He wants to play. We want him to play. Our best version is of with him playing. It hasn’t worked out like that. Yet.”

The 76ers are a franchise in turmoil and suffering through an internal tug-of-war when it comes to Embiid. Can he play through the pain and should he, even with the woeful record? Why not just shut him down and try again next year?

Even George — who left the Los Angeles Clippers to sign a four-year, $212 million free-agent contract — conceded the juice might not be worth the squeeze when it comes to a potential Embiid return. The 76ers are one of the worst teams in the league and are trending closer to Toronto, Charlotte, Washington and a lottery pick than making a serious run in the postseason.

Maybe sitting Embiid is for the best — just as it was seemingly was early in the Process.

The 76ers’ first-round pick is top-six protected or else it goes to the Oklahoma City Thunder, perhaps one more reason the Sixers could shut down Embiid and cut their losses on the season.

“We’re showing no signs of a team that will compete,” George said. “We just don’t have the habits of a championship or a playoff-contending team would have. To be honest, right now, it’s a little farfetched. All we can do is work hard. Try to just keep going for one another. We’ve shown no signs of, forget championship, but a playoff contending-team here.”

Does Nurse survive and earn a third season on the bench?

What about team president Daryl Morey, who built this mishmashed roster full of patchwork free-agents and needlessly gave Embiid a three-year, $193 million contract extension ahead of training camp.

Just as former Eagles running back Ricky Watters once said: For who? For what?

“We’ve got to be more dialed in. More effort. More energy,” George said. “More pride on the defensive end. Again, same conversations we’ve been having. Low communication. It baffles me just how easy we give up layups in this league. I don’t understand.”

Join the club.

So where is the next win on the schedule? Wednesday night against a Knicks team winning at a 65% clip at Madison Square Garden? Against Steph Curry and the Warriors?

“It’s hard to see a vision, but we have a lot of games left,” 2024 All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey said.

Not really. Certainly not enough to make anyone who watched a 1-9 February — and has four of 20 wins against Charlotte — believe the season can be saved. The 76ers are only 7-8 this season when Embiid, George and Maxey start together.

“Everybody needs to look at themselves, at what they can do better, and then look at what they can do better for the team. And do our jobs, man. Be professional,” Nurse said.

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