The Sixers will take wins in any form, including the ‘weird-good’ games

SALT LAKE CITY — Perhaps Nick Nurse landed on the perfect term while describing a bizarre officiating sequence near the end of the first half of Saturday’s 76ers game against the Utah Jazz.

While trying to call a timeout to challenge what the coach believed was a “clear out-of-bounds win,” the Sixers were instead whistled for delay of game — twice. But that allowed Nurse to challenge two out-of-bounds calls down the stretch, which the Sixers won both times.

“Weird-good,” Nurse said to end his postgame news conference, before chuckling at his own word choice as he walked out of the room.

Apply that to how several aspects of the game unfolded. The Sixers followed up their most beautiful win of the season — at the defending-champion Boston Celtics, on Christmas — with one of their choppiest. Their 114-111 victory over the rebuilding Jazz definitely included some weird, and just enough good. But for a team still clawing out of a horrendous, injury-riddled start to a highly anticipated 2024-25 season, the Sixers cannot be picky about how they clinched their ninth win in 12 games to up their record to 12-17.

“That was a good game for us, after coming off of the Christmas Day high and the hoopla,” said All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey, who finished with 32 points, six assists, and two steals. “[The Jazz] play extremely hard. I think they’re better than what their [7-23] record shows.

“I was really proud of how resilient we were.”

Nurse had gotten even more simplistic earlier in his media session, saying his team played Saturday at “two extremes” — from poor to very good — in the span of those 48 minutes.

That duality was present on the defensive end. Nurse lamented that his team could not guard the ball while trailing by as many as 14 points during a bad first quarter, acknowledging a mental letdown he found surprising following a shootaround he described as “bouncy and focused.” After that, the Sixers surrendered only 18 points during a game-flipping second quarter. Then that unit slipped again when the Jazz rapidly erased the Sixers’ 11-point third-quarter advantage. Then the Sixers amassed enough stops down the stretch to overcome a six-point deficit and seize the lead.

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“It wasn’t the greatest defensive performance for 48 minutes,” Nurse said. “But it was really good in critical times.”

“Good” and “weird” also continue to exist within Paul George, the Sixers’ perennial All-Star newcomer. He again struggled to generate a consistent scoring flow (13 points on 4-of-11 shooting), and uncharacteristically split two free-throw trips in the final minute. But he unleashed two of his better highlights of the season when he whipped a behind-the-back pass to Maxey for a one handed dunk and later exploded into the lane for his own slam. George also remained an all-over-the-place defender, compiling a season-high five steals.

“We’re just figuring out who we are,” George said. “How we play. How we jell. How we mesh. And, I think, just who works well together. … I try to find spots throughout the game where I can be aggressive and take a load off [Maxey and Joel Embiid], try to get to my shot, just so I can start to get in rhythm again.”

What was very good and not at all weird again Saturday? That two-man game between Maxey and Embiid, which, even amid long stretches with Embiid unavailable through the first 29 games, has swiftly recaptured what made them one of the NBA’s more dangerous offensive tandems last season. Even Saturday came with some uncertainty, as Embiid entered the matchup listed as questionable to play because of a left foot sprain.

Embiid rolled to the basket after screening more than usual on Saturday, helping create an action in the middle of the floor that Nurse called “so deadly.” Perhaps the best evidence of those players’ natural synergy, however, was Embiid’s fourth-quarter desperation pass after falling to the floor to Maxey, who drilled an off-balance three-pointer at the end of the shot clock that put the Sixers up, 105-103, with about three minutes remaining.

Yet Embiid and Maxey said they do not want to become too reliant on playing solely off each other.

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“It’s a balance,” said Embiid, adding that he wants to “build the same relationships” with other teammates. “We’ve got to find a way to kind of stabilize a little bit, as far as the record [goes]. Just got to find the right balance on working on our game and chemistry, and also doing whatever it takes to win.”

This remains a stretch of the season when the Sixers can continue pocketing wins. They next travel to Portland for a Monday matchup against the Trail Blazers, a team that fits the Utah mold of young and rebuilding. Wednesday’s opponent, the 13-19 Sacramento Kings, abruptly fired coach Mike Brown on Friday. After that, the Sixers face a Golden State Warriors team that is 4-12 in its last 16 games.

And right now, the Sixers will take victories in any form — including weird-good.

“We’re not worried about April,” Maxey said. “We’re worried about December. We’ve got to worry about winning games right now. We’re getting better every single day. That’s the main thing I think we’re worried about.”