Sixers midseason superlatives include breakout player, biggest disappointment

Matisse Thybulle’s eyes widened when informed Thursday morning that the 76ers’ upcoming matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder was Game 41, or the regular season’s halfway point.

“I’m going to have to let that one sink in a little bit,” Thybulle said following the Sixers’ shootaround.

It does feel like a bizarre time to reach such a benchmark. Thursday’s 133-114 loss to Oklahoma City marked just the eighth game in which the Sixers had their full starting lineup available. That means much of the season’s first half was about navigating injury and illness — most notably, significant foot ailments to star guards James Harden and Tyrese Maxey — than building on last February’s blockbuster trade to acquire Harden.

That the Sixers enter the weekend with a 25-16 record and in fifth place in the Eastern Conference — and two games out of second — is a testament to the resilience and depth of this group. They have been at their best when a defense that has ranked in the top five in efficiency for the bulk of the season (110.2 points allowed per 100 possessions) is in crisp form. But they are still working to find consistency on both ends of the floor with a bona fide MVP contender in Joel Embiid, a future Hall of Famer who has transformed into more of a facilitator than dominant scorer in Harden, and a rising star in Maxey.

“We got a long way to go,” a succinct Embiid said when asked what he has learned about his team over the first 41 games.

The season’s second half will be about building toward the playoffs — and proving they have the makeup to compete with the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks (and perhaps the Brooklyn Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers) as Eastern Conference contenders. Until then, here are the moments, performances, and story lines that captured the regular season’s first 41 games.

When healthy, Embiid has again played like a contender for the NBA’s top individual award.

After leading the NBA in scoring last season, he ranked second in that category entering Friday (33.5 points per game). That includes two 50-point explosions, including a stunning 59-point, 11-rebound, 8-assist, and 7-block outing in a November win against the Utah Jazz.

Though Embiid’s rebounding numbers are down this season at 9.9 per game, he is averaging a career-high 4.6 assists per game. Coach Doc Rivers has commended the way Embiid now baits defenders into double-teams at the elbow, before delivering the ball to an open teammate.

A hat tip must go to Tobias Harris for this honor, however.

The veteran forward has been impressively steady and efficient as teammates moved in and out of the rotation around him, flirting with a 50/40/90 shooting season while averaging 16.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game entering Thursday. He continues to mold into whatever his team needs, including improving defensively.

Melton instantly felt like a natural fit as a spark-plug 3-and-D sixth man when the Sixers pulled off their draft-night trade to acquire him from the Memphis Grizzlies. But he has been even better than expected, especially while sliding into the starting lineup for more than two months while Harden and/or Maxey were out.

He ranks fourth in the NBA in steals (1.9 per game) and fifth in deflections (3.5 per game) entering Friday. He is also shooting 39.7% from three-point range on a career-high 6.1 attempts per game, including racking up a career-best 33 points on 8-of-12 from deep in a December overtime win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Sixers played nearly a month without both Harden and Maxey, and about two without one of those players in the backcourt.

That could have derailed the Sixers’ season before Thanksgiving. Instead, the adversity helped them find their footing. Following a 5-7 start, they won nine out of 11 games from Nov. 12 to 28. They then won eight in a row from Dec. 9 to 25. They enter their five-game Western Conference road trip as winners of five of their last seven games.

Embiid’s monster performances, Harris’ consistency, and Melton’s emergence were all important components of those surges. But guard Shake Milton also deserves credit for an outstanding stint as an attacking scorer and playmaker in the starting lineup, averaging 20.6 points on 54.3% shooting, six assists, and five rebounds in nine games when Harden and Maxey were both sidelined.

Remember when Embiid spoke of his desire to get Tucker on this team? Or when Harden took a pay cut — and the Sixers shouldered a tampering punishment for contacting Tucker before free agency officially opened — to make that happen?

Luring Tucker — a celebrated veteran on the Bucks’ 2021 title team and the 2021-22 Miami Heat team that finished with the East’s best regular season record — was the Sixers’ top offseason priority. As a player content to take on the most challenging individual defensive assignments and provide leadership, physicality, and championship pedigree, Tucker appeared to be an ideal addition to a team with players that publicly said they lacked toughness at the end of last season. A bonus: Tucker was a former teammate of Harden’s during their Houston Rockets heyday.

Yet the transition for Tucker has been clunky. He has not gotten as many touches in the flow of the offense, creating hesitancy when he gets an open corner three-pointer or push shot in the lane. He has gone scoreless in 12 games, and has not taken a shot in four contests. Perhaps most noticeable: He has been on the bench in crunch time in several recent games, including Thursday’s loss to the Thunder.

Some of these struggles are clearly health-related. A summer knee surgery put Tucker behind entering training camp and at the start of the season. Recently, he has been managing a nerve problem that originates in his neck and leads to numbness in his right hand.

At 37, Tucker keenly understands the ramp-up to the playoffs, meaning he still has time to rediscover his personal rhythm within his new team. But if something close to the Milwaukee or Miami version of Tucker never arrives against a daunting Eastern Conference playoff state, signing Tucker until his year-40 season may look like a risk gone wrong.

This is the game when Maxey heard a pop, then grimaced as he chugged up the steps behind the basket. He had fractured his foot. Harden was already sidelined. Harris was also out.

Still, the Sixers overcame a 13-point deficit to prevail, 110-102, against an East power behind a near-triple-double for Embiid (32 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists). Additionally, the second-half outings from Melton (10 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists) and Milton (15 points, 6 assists) set the tone for how the new-look backcourt would perform in place of the Sixers’ standout guards.

An honorable mention goes to a 119-114 win Dec. 23 over a Clippers team with All-Stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on the floor. Embiid dropped 44 points in that game, while Harden totaled a career-best 21 assists.

Recency bias following Thursday’s splat against the Thunder notwithstanding, the Sixers’ loss to the lowly Spurs to drop to 0-3 in the season’s first week quickly sent some outsiders into panic mode. Though Embiid finished with 40 points and 13 rebounds, the Sixers allowed San Antonio to shoot 42.1% from beyond the arc.

Another contender for this category is a 113-85 blowout loss at the Cleveland Cavaliers just after Thanksgiving. Harden and Maxey were both out for this game, and Rivers infamously called it a “schedule loss” because of his team’s demanding travel and nonstop games during that stretch.

Yet the result is still notable because, if the playoffs began Thursday, the Cavaliers would be the Sixers’ first-round opponent. They will next face Cleveland at home in their final game before the All-Star break on Feb. 15.

Assuming decent health, the next few weeks will largely be about experimenting with — and then sharpening — the Sixers’ rotation.

Rivers said that he was still evaluating the defensive effectiveness of the opening night starting lineup, which quickly fell into a double-digit hole against the Thunder. Also noteworthy: Melton, not Tucker, was in the closing group.

Rivers also has decisions to make on how to deploy the reserves in ways that can best utilize Thybulle’s defense, Milton’s bucket-getting, and Georges Niang’s outside shooting. And after Montrezl Harrell got a decent stint as the backup center, Paul Reed replaced him in that spot Thursday night.

Though the Sixers are not expected to pull off a blockbuster deal like last February, president of basketball operations Daryl Morey has built a reputation as one of the NBA’s more active executives. What will he pursue to try to upgrade this roster?

The Sixers also have an open roster spot that could be used to sign a player off the buyout market following the trade deadline.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that, even with the abundance of offensive talent, the Sixers will go as far as their defense takes them.

“Especially if you want to be the last team standing,” Harden said after Thursday’s loss.

A common theme when that unit turns leaky: failing to keep ballhandlers in front, which leads to attempts at the rim, opportunities for offensive rebounds and kick-out passes for open three-pointers when a teammate is forced to help. That is where Harden and Maxey in the same backcourt — and Melton on the bench — can be a concern.