Sixers’ close games coming out of All-Star break are a reminder of what looms in playoffs

“It’s not going to get any easier,” star guard James Harden said. “We’re going to play against some really good teams for the rest of the season."

Sixers James Harden pulls up his jersey after missing a shot in the final seconds against the Heat.Read moreSteven M. Falk / Staff Photographer

by Gina Mizell

Published Feb. 28, 2023, 5:00 a.m. ET

James Harden expects Tuesday’s 76ers film session to unfold similarly to all the others this season.

“It’s really just Doc cursing us out,” the star guard half-joked late Monday. “But we learn. We get better. We try to fix things.”

Based on opponent quality and schedule cadence, it was easy to point to these 25 games following the All-Star break as the Sixers’ defining stretch. So far, there has been plenty to glean from a 1-2 start, combining Monday’s 101-99 loss to the Miami Heat with their split against the Memphis Grizzlies and Boston Celtics that followed a similar down-to-the-wire script. The Sixers — who exited Monday with a 39-21 record and four games back of the Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks tied atop the Eastern Conference standings — now hope to take those lessons into a grueling March, when they play 12 of 17 games on the road beginning with Wednesday’s rematch against the Heat in Miami.

“It’s not going to get any easier,” Harden said. “We’re going to play against some really good teams for the rest of the season. It’s good for us, and we can learn and focus on being detailed and being great for four quarters.”

After the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum drilled the game-winner Saturday night, Sixers star Joel Embiid said his team is “right there.” But following Monday’s defeat — when Harden missed an open game-winning three-pointer — Embiid reiterated the importance of playing the full 48 minutes.

The third-quarter lapse against Boston — when a 15-point Sixers lead transformed into a deficit entering the final period — was identified by Embiid and coach Doc Rivers as the game-changer. That occurred after the Sixers fell behind by 17 points against the Grizzlies, before rallying to win in the final minutes.

Monday night, a start that Rivers called “sloppy” and “sluggish” doomed the Sixers. Miami took 18 more shots in the first half, thanks to 10 offensive rebounds. The Heat also scored 14 points off 11 Sixers turnovers before the break, and went 9-of-22 from beyond the arc two nights after the Celtics sank 16 three-pointers.

“They turned it into a slugfest, which is exactly what they want to do,” Rivers said. “I thought we fell into it, though.”

Rivers also was displeased with his team’s stretch-run execution, when everything during a tight game is magnified.

Tyrese Maxey scored 23 points off the bench, but lamented the game-tying transition layup he missed in the fourth quarter before fouling out (De’Anthony Melton also missed an open look at the rim the prior possession). Rivers added the Sixers “blew plays out of timeouts. That’s something that just can’t happen.” And the coach called the Sixers’ second-to-last possession — when Embiid tried to drive on Bam Adebayo and got swarmed and blocked — “as poorly an executed play as we can have.”

“We were trying to run something we run all the time and didn’t get into it,” Rivers said. “So those are the little disappointing things in [two]-point games. These are good games for us. … We want to come out the winner, though.”

Harden stressed there was “no frustration” following the consecutive heartbreakers, noting “if we fix a couple things, it’s a different conversation.” Embiid added that he was “happy that we’ve got a tough schedule” on the horizon, because “I believe in myself, and I believe in us.”

Yet these first three games out of the All-Star break served as a reminder of what looms in the playoffs. That will surely show itself during Tuesday’s film session.

“For us to win, we’re going to have to be almost perfect,” Embiid said. “We can’t have nights like these last couple games. [We’ve] got to be locked in all game, from the start.”