MILWAUKEE — The 76ers suddenly have a rhythm issue with 12 games remaining.
All-Stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, along with rotation player Furkan Korkmaz and seldom-used rookie Paul Reed, all missed Saturday’s 132-94 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum.
It was the fourth consecutive game Simmons missed with the flu. Embiid was a late scratch with a sore right shoulder. Korkmaz was sidelined for his second straight game with a sprained right ankle and Reed is in the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocol.
But having multiple rotation players out has been a recent norm for the Sixers (39-21). Saturday’s contest marked the sixth game in a row in which the Sixers played without guys who are getting quality minutes.
“I’m concerned about the amount of games we are missing,” coach Doc Rivers said. “I think Ben is going to be fine. Joel is going to be be fine. Tobias [Harris] is still trying to get healthy. Furk with be fine. Seth’s back.
“But when you name all those guys, that tells you there’ a problem at the same time. We have to get a rhythm with all of our guys playing.”
Saturday was Harris’ second game back after missing three straight with a right knee bone bruise. It was obvious that the standout power forward is still hampered by the injury.
Curry sat out Wednesday’s game against the Phoenix Suns because of left hip flexor recovery. While he played on April 19 against his brother Steph and the Golden State Warriors, Curry missed the April 16 game against the Los Angeles Clippers, bothered by his left hip.
A sore left knee kept Dwight Howard out of games against the Brooklyn Nets (April 14) and the Clippers.
And George Hill didn’t make his Sixers’ debut until the Warriors game after being acquired from the Oklahoma City Thunder on March 25. The 34-year-old had surgery on his right thumb on Feb. 2, and hadn’t played in a game since Jan. 24.
The Sixers, now in second place in the Eastern Conference, play again on Monday night against the struggling Thunder at the Wells Fargo Center.
“Hopefully by the time we play, we got more guys on the floor,” Rivers said. “We’ve just got to get our guys and our rotation down, so we can play them and work on stuff.
“It’s really important for probably one guy. That’s George Hill. We can put him in his spot instead of playing him with guys he probably wouldn’t play with early.”
Hill has yet to play with Simmons. He’s played with Harris twice and Embiid and Curry three times.
Hill is averaging 6.3 points with 2.0 rebounds and 19.8 minutes in four games with two starts. He’s shooting 50% from the field, including making 2 of 4 three-pointers. He has five assists, three blocks, and five turnovers.
“You can’t make excuses even though you know this is my fourth game here right now after sitting out three months with injury,” Hill said of not playing with teammates he normally would play with. “You know I’ve got to be better. I’ve got to get in shape to be able to help this team no matter who’s on the floor.”
The Sixers aren’t the league’s only elite team playing without key players at this portion of the season.
Some squads are focused on making sure players are 100% healthy for the playoffs, snd not concerned about securing a certain seed. Those teams want to avoid serious injuries to players and give those with nagging injuries time to heal.
But Rivers stressed that he’s not resting players.
“Guys are not being able to play,” the coach said. “That’s a big difference.”
This past week was supposed to be a great one for the Sixers in regards to getting a barometer on their talent.
On April 19, they hosted the electrifying Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors. It would have been great to see how Simmons, a defensive player of the year frontrunner, matched up against Curry, who took a league-best 31.2-point scoring average into Sunday night’s game against the Sacramento Kings.
But Steph Curry snapped the Sixers’ four-game winning streak by scoring 49 points in a 107-96 victory over a Sixers squad that played without Simmons and Harris.
On Wednesday, they hosted a Phoenix Suns squad that featured All-Stars Chris Paul and Devin Booker and has the Western Conference’s and the league’s second-best record (42-17 ).
The Suns escaped with a 116-113 victory after Embiid’s 67-foot heave rimmed out of the basket. Seth Curry joined Harris and Simmons as sidelined starters.
The Sixers capped the week with two pivotal road games against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks. Two victories would have enabled the Sixers to win the three-game season series and hold the tiebreaker should the two teams complete the regular season with the same records.
But the Sixers suffered 124-117 setback on Thursday with Simmons and Korkmaz sidelined. Then, with Simmons, Korkmaz and Embiid all sidelined, the Bucks streamrolled the Sixers, 132-94.
Because of those season-high four straight losses, the Sixers clung to 1½-game lead over the third-place Bucks heading into Milwaukee’s Sunday night game at the Atlanta Hawks.
With 19 games missed due to various injuries, Embiid’s conditioning and health didn’t appear at the optimum level in recent games. He held his left knee after being subbed out of the game in the third quarter of Wednesday’s contest against the Suns. On the next night, he grabbed his right shoulder after a third-quarter play vs. the Bucks.
However, Rivers said he’s not concerned about how the four-time All-Star will hold up in the postseason.
That’s because teams will have more rest in between games with no back-to-backs. Rivers also thinks Embiid is in better shape physically this season than in the past.
The coach did acknowledge that the Sixers have missed too many games as a team because of injuries.
“But I’m not concerned come playoff time,” he said. “I will say this, maybe concerned about endurance. Can we put people up to 40 minutes instead of 35 minutes. That I don’t know the answer to. That I would say would be more of a concern if guys are going to play.”
Rivers needs to find out how long they can play and how long the Sixers can stretch guys.
“I think that will be the biggest question,” he said.
