Inside Sixers: Tyrese Maxey’s lessons, a special introduction for Marcus Morris Sr., and more from a clunky week

When asked what he hopes to accomplish before the 76ers’ next game Wednesday at the Atlanta Hawks, coach Nick Nurse chose his words carefully.

“We’re going to get in there and it’ll be a physical practice on Monday,” Nurse said.

Nurse was as visibly frustrated as he has been all season following disastrous back-to-back home losses to the New York Knicks and Utah Jazz to fall to 23-12. The Sixers’ rotation was depleted, especially against Utah, when reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid and fellow starters Tobias Harris and De’Anthony Melton were all out. Yet Nurse insisted that the remaining Sixers still should have executed better collectively, from defensive schemes (they allowed 72 points in the paint to the Jazz) to knocking down open shots (they went 7-of-38 from three-point range).

» READ MORE: There’s no comparison between Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokić. Here’s why.

“Coach said we just didn’t play hard enough,” standout guard Tyrese Maxey said after the loss. “If that’s how he feels, he means it. Then that’s what happened in the game. I always agree with Coach. He’s on the sideline watching, so he sees everything.

“We’re going to get in the lab and correct it.”

How the Sixers respond to this dash of adversity will reveal itself in the coming days. Until then, here are some scenes that peppered the week.

Maxey initially planned to decompress late Saturday night by playing the Call of Duty video game. After that, the basketball film junkie was eager to dissect how to better attack the bevy of defensive schemes the Utah Jazz threw at him, from a box-and-one to a being trapped and denied the ball.

“I haven’t seen that in so long, even when I was in high school,” Maxey said. “… It’s way different, and I’ve got to work hard to get the ball and then try to help my teammates more to get them some more open shots.

“I ain’t going to lie, I wasn’t prepared for that.”

Consider this further evidence of the steps Maxey, who remains on pace to become a first-time All-Star this season, must take to spearhead the Sixers when Embiid is out. In the seven games the superstar big man has missed, Maxey has shot 41% from the floor (63-for-154) and 22% from three-point range (12-for-54). Saturday night brought an additional challenge of organizing teammates who typically do not play together.

“If [the Jazz] were in normal [man-to-man defense], it would have been easier for me to get guys in the right spot,” Maxey said.

As Embiid entered the locker room before Tuesday’s blowout victory over the Chicago Bulls, Kenneth Lofton Jr. walked over to shake his new teammate’s hand. They had not yet met, after a sprained ankle kept Embiid away from the road trip when Lofton joined on a two-way contract before heading to Wilmington to play with the G League’s Delaware Blue Coats.

Tuesday was even more noteworthy for fellow two-way player Ricky Council IV, who made his NBA debut by playing the final six minutes of the Sixers’ dominant victory. Though he missed his only shot attempt, it was an experience Council called “surreal,” after being called up earlier in the day.

With the Blue Coats, Council said he has prioritized rebounding and becoming a consistent shooter, the biggest knock on him coming out of college. So far, the 6-foot-6 guard is averaging 5.6 rebounds per game while connecting on 48% of his field-goal attempts, including a 40% mark on 6.3 three-pointers per game.

“Just believing in myself and staying focused,” Council said of what has keyed that strong shooting start. “A couple months ago, nobody thought I could even hit the rim — for real. Now I’m back to my old self. Just want to stay consistent with it.”

» READ MORE: Sixers-Jazz takeaways: Nic Batum must regain his shot; Kelly Oubre Jr. proving to be dependable

Nurse views those two-way players periodically suiting up for an NBA game as “a bit of a reward” for that work in the G League. It’s also a way for them to “connect the dots” between both teams, which aim to use similar terminology and playing style. During Tuesday’s game against the Bulls, for instance, Council said he paid attention to how teammates communicated on defense and guarded offensive threats DeMar DeRozan and Coby White.

Council and fellow two-way player Terquavion Smith were back Saturday with the Sixers, who were even more shorthanded against the Jazz. That call-up came with even shorter notice. He had been mentally preparing to play for the Blue Coats that night, before learning around 2 p.m. that he instead needed to make the drive north.

During the pregame locker-room period open to the media, Council had the Blue Coats’ game pulled up on his phone.

Embiid’s triple-double in his return from a sprained ankle Tuesday earned him the “Big Energy” chain from strength and conditioning coach Ben Kenyon, whose subsequent request for a photo with the keepsake resulted in the big man jokingly saying, “I hate you.”

“No you don’t,” Kenyon retorted.

That was part of a lengthy postgame icing session for Embiid, who is now nursing knee swelling in addition to continuing to rehab his ankle. He passed the time the way he often does, by watching NBA League Pass on his phone. Especially with the marquee game between the Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder going down to the wire.

Embiid provided running commentary throughout, including a “he’s going to make a big three” shout-out to former Sixer Isaiah Joe. He set his phone down during a commercial break to do his media session, before immediately pulling it back up to “see what happens in the last minute.”

Patrick Beverley interrupted Thursday’s post-practice work between Maxey and personal trainer Drew Hanlen by hopping in to tightly guard his teammate. When asked about his strategy against Maxey in such workouts, Beverley quipped, “I got my own secrets, so I can’t let anybody know.”

It’s fair to assume that regularly matching up against one of the league’s premier instigators has been beneficial for Maxey. Nurse has been encouraging Maxey to become a more physical on-ball defender, with a couple of examples unfolding this week. Maxey drew a charge on Knicks big man Julius Randle on Friday night. And on Tuesday, he repeatedly bumped the Bulls’ Alex Caruso early in the game, essentially drawing a foul on purpose.

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“Then he told the ref, ‘That’s what they do to me, so I’m going to start this game doing this to them,’” Nurse said. “He just came in there with that mindset of, ‘I get bumped around like this all game long. And I just wanted to let you know, if that’s the way it’s going to be, I’m going to do it back.’”

Beverley, meanwhile, also would not bite when asked Thursday about this Maxey-related topic.

“I can’t indulge in those answers,” Beverley said. “Other teams are listening.”

When Sixers public address announcer Matt Cord reached the fourth name in his starting-lineup introductions Saturday night, Marcus Morris Sr. prepared to walk onto the court.

But then he heard Paul Reed’s name, and realized his “from North Philly!” identifier would come last.

Add that to why it is deeply meaningful for Morris to be playing for his hometown Sixers since coming over in the James Harden trade.

“If you would have asked me this,” Morris said, “in a million years, I would have said I didn’t think it was going to happen. … My boys being able to see it. My family being able to see it. It was big for me. Just grateful for the opportunity.”

Kelly Oubre Jr. on why he enjoys playing alongside Nico Batum: “I’m very energetic, very wear-my-[emotion]-on-my-shoulder. Knowing that there’s a guy who I can lean on and kind of calm myself down, I think that’s him. Because I can’t go to Pat [Beverley], because we’re both going to be yelling at everybody and just raging out. But Nico’s definitely very poised and even-keeled.”