Joel Embiid says ‘we’ll be fine’ after 2-11 Sixers hold lengthy meeting following loss to Heat

The Sixers surrendered a 19-point first half lead and kept free-falling into a 106-89 loss to the Heat. They are now 2-11 to begin a season that once had championship aspirations.

by Gina Mizell

Published Nov. 19, 2024, 7:50 a.m. ET

MIAMI — More than one hour had passed since the final buzzer before Nick Nurse finally walked into the Kaseya Center’s postgame interview room on Monday.

The 76ers had just held “a little meeting,” the coach acknowledged, after his team tumbled to an increasingly disastrous 2-11 record to begin a season that once was ripe with expectations. This time, they surrendered a 19-point first-half lead and kept free-falling into a 106-89 defeat to Miami, thanks to a 33-point second half.

Nurse described the meeting as player- and coach-driven and kept the locker room closed during that stretch. He declined to reveal many details about the discussion but said the goal was to reiterate how stout defense and shot creation had fueled the game’s positive stretches, how limiting “pick-six” turnovers and simply knocking down more wide-open looks would convert those glimpses of success into actual victories.

By the end, did Nurse believe the message had been received by his team?

“We can only ever find out until we play another game, right?” he said. “We can only ever find out [when] we get to practice and see what the level of focus and energy is like, and then when we get to our next game.

“But, yeah, they were very attentive and very communicative.”

The locker-room scene was not overly tense or uncomfortable once reporters entered following Nurse’s news conference. But Paul George, who scored 18 points on 5-of-13 shooting, declined an interview request, leaving teammates such as rookie Jared McCain and newcomer Caleb Martin to speak for the team. Joel Embiid did hold court at his locker, but when asked if the meeting was “positive,” he responded with a coy, “Oh, we had a meeting?”

It was at least a tad surprising that Embiid was even present after the game, due to another health snag that has plagued the start of his season. The 2023 NBA MVP entered the day listed as questionable with an illness — then was downgraded to doubtful after he missed that morning’s shootaround — before elevating himself to available after going through a warmup about 45 minutes before tipoff.

“I always wanted to give it a chance,” Embiid said, “as long as I felt like I could be out there.”

Still, Nurse evaluated Embiid’s play as “really rusty” in his third game of the season. He scored just two of his 11 points in the second half, after going scoreless following the break Friday during a loss at the Orlando Magic. Nurse initially took Embiid out of Monday’s looming defeat with about seven minutes remaining, but the big man wanted to go back in for the closing stretch to attempt to gain more conditioning and rhythm.

Embiid reiterated Monday that his goal entering this season was to “empower” teammates, rather than dominate in a way that made him the NBA’s leading scorer in consecutive seasons (2021-22 and 2022-23). But that largely has been impossible while missing 10 out of 13 games because of a lingering knee condition after meniscus surgery and a suspension.

Additionally, starting point guard Tyrese Maxey missed his sixth consecutive game with a strained hamstring on Monday, meaning that the Sixers’ All-Star trio still has not played together. That, in turn, means the Sixers’ complementary players — who round out a roster with eight newcomers — also have not clicked into their ideal roles.

But Embiid also acknowledged that, given the Sixers’ early hole, his desired approach now “might need to change.”

“The next couple games, I’m probably going to try to be more aggressive, as far as doing more,” Embiid said. “… It’s all about finding the right balance of it: when to be aggressive, when to set up guys, and when to let everybody do their thing.

“But, then again, there’s also times where you’ve got that record, and something needs to be done about it.”

Perhaps that is an instant reaction to a particularly frustrating outing, when the Sixers generated “possibly the best shots we’ve had all year,” Nurse said.

The mixture of at-the-rim and behind-the-arc attempts helped the Sixers build that significant lead. Then they began misfiring on a bevy of open looks — and turned the ball over 15 times — on a night when they failed to reach 90 points for the second consecutive game. They entered Tuesday ranked last in the NBA in field-goal percentage (.428) and offensive rating (104.2 points per 100 possessions).

That sputtering has caused a defense, which Nurse praised Monday for its communication and schematics, to play in transition “possession after possession after possession.” The Heat scored 23 fast-break points and 14 off the Sixers’ turnovers.

“[We must get] these guys to believe they’re better shooters and better scorers than we’re showing right now,” Nurse said of his players. “And we need them to step up and do that.”

The numbers game to claw out of this win-loss deficit already is flirting with daunting. To reach 46 victories, the amount the eighth-seeded Heat compiled last season, the Sixers must go 44-25 the rest of the way. To reach 36 wins, the number the 10th-seeded Atlanta Hawks amassed to advance to the play-in tournament, the Sixers must go 34-35.

Still, 69 regular-season games remain over the next four-plus months. That means the Sixers are tasked with striking the appropriate mental balance of remaining calm, but with a sense of urgency — and with having a sense of urgency but not panicking.

The Sixers channeled any emotions that accompanied their latest lopsided defeat into an hourlong, closed-door meeting. Yet Embiid maintains belief that these early-season problems still can be rectified.

“We know what it is,” Embiid said. “We know where we’re at, and we know we’ve got to do better — which we will. It is unacceptable, and something is going to be done about it. We’ll be fine.”

Then, Embiid paused and repeated: “We’ll be fine.”