Sixers-Nets takeaways: Tyrese Maxey and Kelly Oubre Jr. struggle; Ben Simmons returns

A 76ers squad missing four starters played like a patchwork group Saturday in a 136-121 loss to the Brooklyn Nets.

Tyrese Maxey and Kelly Oubre Jr. struggled as the Sixers’ top two scoring options. Ben Simmons, perhaps poetically, did not take a shot, but he did impact his team’s victory. And the list of the Sixers’ health issues grew, even for players who were on the floor Saturday.

Here are the takeaways from the Sixers’ fifth loss in six games.

Nick Nurse scanned the box score, eyes locking on the combined shooting numbers for Maxey and Oubre: 11-for-37.

“That’s just not close to being good enough,” the Sixers’ coach said. “And it wasn’t like they weren’t trying. They were trying to do the right things. Again, just not a lot of juice from our guys tonight.”

» READ MORE: Shorthanded Sixers sputter on both ends of the court vs. the Brooklyn Nets, suffer fifth loss in six games

The Sixers hope it’s rare that they are down this many starters, with Maxey and Oubre anchoring a starting group with Paul Reed, Danuel House Jr., and Marcus Morris Sr. Maxey acknowledged that, although they have worked with some of Saturday’s lineup combinations in practice, some of those groupings were essentially new because “we just haven’t had the time” to get to them at this juncture of the season. And it’s another example of the work ahead to figure out how to play without Joel Embiid.

Maxey said that he attempted to run a lot of pick-and-roll and “basic offense that you learn in training camp,” but that the Nets challenged him with traps. Nurse also believes Maxey’s start was hampered by the fact that he “didn’t really have anything to show” for his early drives, with zero free-throw attempts in the first quarter despite “getting jostled pretty hard.”

Nurse called Oubre’s downhill attempts “pretty challenged” because of the way the Nets switched defensively and put a bigger body on the athletic wing. Oubre also went 0-for-5 from three-point land. The coach, though, appreciated the way Oubre got to the free-throw line, including an 8-for-8 mark in the first quarter that generated a large portion of the Sixers’ 22-point period.

Even as the Sixers get healthier, though, it’s reasonable to expect that Maxey is going to see a heavy dose of blitzes from opposing defenses. Saturday night, the newly minted All-Star attempted to get off the ball quickly and let teammates play with the advantage. But the shorthanded group, with many players moving up the depth chart, could not create or make enough shots.

“If there’s two on the ball, there’s got to be somebody open,” Nurse said. “We should be getting great shots against that. … We’ve handled the blitzing versus Tyrese really well all year. Now, we’ve got to make sure the group that’s out there now can do it as well. And then you’ve just got to knock them down.”

Added Maxey: “My thing is I’ve got to get guys going and get guys confidence going more, I think, at the beginning of games. That will help us down the road.”

» READ MORE: Sixers ‘still waiting’ for Joel Embiid’s injury diagnosis and treatment, coach Nick Nurse says

Because Simmons is on a minutes restriction while coming off back and knee injuries, the Wells Fargo Center crowd did not get the satisfaction of booing him during starting lineup introductions.

And although the reaction throughout Saturday was not as relentless as his first couple of returns to Philly, Simmons still faced vitriol every time he touched the ball. And cheers when he committed a turnover or a foul, like when he made contact with Patrick Beverley just after entering the game for the first time about midway through the first quarter. And hollers of “You’re a bum!” or “Get off the court!” when the arena got quiet during breaks in the action.

“This is, what, my second, third time back? So it’s different now,” Simmons told reporters after the game. “It’s funny to me. I got grown men [ticked] off and yelling. ... I enjoy that. It’s not that deep in sports, but it comes with it, so I enjoy it.”

He also finished with a Simmons-esque line: Nine rebounds, five assists … and zero shot attempts. But he was a plus-7 in 14 minutes.

There was a sharp three-point discrepancy through three quarters, with the Nets going 16-for-38 while the Sixers went just 6-for-19.

The only reason that the Sixers got their final total up to 12-for-29 was that two-way rookie Terquavion Smith went 5-for-6 from long range during his fourth-quarter stint, perhaps the only bright spot of an otherwise forgettable night. The Nets finished 20 of 51 from deep.

“I thought early, we just took too quick of ones,” Nurse said of his team’s three-point shooting. “And nobody made them. We were just quick, and not that open. We probably could have generated much better ones.

“[That] got us off to a really slow start from the three-point line. We were just chasing the game from there.”

» READ MORE: If Joel Embiid’s knee injury is significant, these Sixers must step up in his absence

After the game, Nurse shared that starting forward Nico Batum (hamstring) will be evaluated again Sunday. Starting guard De’Anthony Melton (spine), meanwhile, was expected to be on the court during Sunday’s practice — though the coach did not commit to Melton being ready to play Monday against the Dallas Mavericks.

The coach also revealed that Tobias Harris’ illness was different than the one that kept him out of two games last week, and that Reed was also under the weather during Saturday’s game and the staff was trying to limit his minutes. Backup center Mo Bamba also got “a little banged up” during the game, although Nurse did not specify the injury.

Robert Covington, meanwhile, is “going to be a while,” Nurse said, after missing the last month with a knee bone bruise.

Maxey on Embiid’s mood following his knee injury: “His spirit is as good as anybody who is hurt or who is going through something. … He called me and congratulated me [on making the All-Star team]. He texted us and told us to go out there and be successful and try to win games, and he’s supportive of us. We’re supportive of him as well. Whatever he’s going though, his rehab or whatever he has to do, we’re going to be right there with him.”