Sixers' series vs. Boston not so ‘out of character' through four games

The Sixers have been here before.

Fresh off of humiliating losses, they’ve shown the ability to respond with dramatic improvement. It was natural for Sixers head coach Nick Nurse to highlight that recent history with his team one game from first-round playoff elimination following a 128-96 home Game 4 defeat Sunday night to the Celtics.

“We’re going to have to dig into the film,” Nurse said. “Same as Game 1. I just told them again, way out of character. Played another about as bad as we can play game. That’s two out of four in this series. Played very well in the other two and we’ve got to go back to playing very well quickly. Got to go get one.”

Nurse’s point is valid, but the 2025-26 Sixers now have 87 games that count under their belt, including a play-in tournament win over the Magic. They’ve had stable themes in many of their losses. 

The Sixers have flashed alluring defensive potential late in close games but otherwise been mediocre on that end. The team’s offense has relied heavily on Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid’s individual shotmaking. Opponents regularly take and make more three-pointers. The Sixers concede heaps of demoralizing offensive rebounds. Their bench is often badly outscored by the other second unit. 

Some of the numbers are likely familiar to hardcore fans by now. According to Cleaning the Glass, the Sixers ranked 27th during the regular season in defensive rebounding rate, 23rd in both three-point frequency and three-point accuracy outside of garbage time. The Sixers were 27th in bench points per game and in the middle of the NBA pack for both offensive rating and defensive rating. The team’s net rating was minus-0.1 during a season that wasn’t light on blowout losses.

All those flaws have popped up vs. the Celtics. And, beyond the details, nights with unsatisfactory effort and focus haven’t been rare this year.

“It just didn’t seem like any matchup could guard anybody 1-on-1 tonight,” Nurse said. “We had them pushed out, bottled up, physical and really off rhythm for a couple of games and there was none of that tonight. I’m just not sure. I don’t know why we couldn’t block out better or rebound better or move better on defense. We just seemed a half-step behind energy-wise. 

“Whatever it was, we were a half-step behind on everything. … It felt a little bit like Game 1. All of a sudden, we’d jump out of character really (quickly). That’s hard to watch and hard to explain, too.”

Embiid played Sunday, willing his way back on the court after undergoing an appendectomy on April 9. He was the Sixers’ most productive player, posting 26 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. The Celtics still might have won if Embiid scored 50. 

Maxey ended up with 22 points and six assists, but he only attempted three field goals in the first half and was oddly peripheral for much of the night. 

“That can’t happen,” Maxey said. “That’s on me. That absolutely can’t happen. That’s unacceptable by me. I was playing within the flow of the game and it kind of just happened that way. It wasn’t meant to happen that way, but that’s on me. … We can’t win basketball games with that happening and I take full responsibility on that one.”

Embiid certainly agreed with Maxey’s sentiment, saying the Sixers need their All-Star guard to be aggressive from the start of the game. VJ Edgecombe also acknowledged he “definitely turned some down I should’ve shot” after scoring six points on 2-for-9 shooting. 

Perhaps the most uncharacteristic aspect of the Sixers’ performance was just how extreme their problems were with Embiid.

Over the years, the seven-time All-Star big man has tended to cover up the Sixers’ issues simply by being on the court. The Sixers went 24-14 with Embiid available this regular season. 

Of course, the Embiid who played in Game 4 had protective wrapping under his jersey and around his abdomen. Outside of anything related to basketball, Embiid had a worrisome health ordeal. 

“It started in San Antonio,” he said. “Stomach started hurting. I’ve never had stomach pain before, but I thought I ate something bad. … I thought it was a stomach virus or something. I started feeling it during the game and that night. And then the next day, we had practice. … I was going to take it easy during practice because it was pretty bad, but we had a good conversation with the team about what we needed to do. I kind of wanted to send a message, go out there and practice really hard. 

“By the time I got back to the hotel, it just kept getting worse and worse and worse. That night before the (Rockets) game, I didn’t want to bother these guys because they were sleeping. But it got to the point where I couldn’t sleep. I was up until 4 in the morning.

“I was like, ‘Yeah, I need help.’ … You can’t even walk. So that’s why I had to tell them, ‘Something is very wrong here.’ I don’t like the hospital and all those MRIs and CT scans, but it got to a point where it was really bad. … That’s when we had to go to the hospital and found out what was going on.”

Even though he sat for the final 5 minutes and 31 seconds of garbage time, Embiid logged 34 minutes.

The Sixers’ play was dismal for the majority of that time. 

“They just moved us around, pushed us around offensively and defensively,” Maxey said. “Guys got to whatever spot they wanted to get to, no resistance, and that’s absolutely unacceptable. That’s not our brand of basketball that we play. … I think they kind of just walked to their spots and got whatever they wanted. 

“Then we got put in a position where we thought we should over-help. This is not a team you can really over-help on, so you really have to guard your yard.”

Game 5 will be here soon enough. 

“I hate to say it, but we’ve got to wash it,” Maxey said. “We’ve got to let it go right now because it happened. We’re down 3-1 and we’ve got a game on Tuesday. Our season’s on the line, so we’ve got to play (desperately). If that doesn’t make you desperate …”

In some ways, the Sixers would love to stay true to character in Game 5. Their season is also in a dire spot because they’ve played a characteristic first four games against the Celtics.