There is no denying that the Philadelphia 76ers are finally starting to resemble the kind of team they are supposed to be. After logging their best win of the season on Christmad Day, everyone was expecting them to play top-notch basketball moving forward, but as we all know, nothing is guaranteed in the NBA.
While the 76ers still managed to win their third straight game against the Jazz, no one would be particularly impressed with a win over a lowkey tanking ball club. While their comeback during the second quarter was remarkable, at this point, the bar should be set higher. To kick things off in Utah, Philly looked pretty sluggish without a modicum of consistency carrying over from their previous game.
But away with the peanut gallery-ish prattling, the 76ers did win that one, just not in the convincing fashion most people were expecting. Having said that, their latest outing bore fruit to an ugly trend that could end up backfiring down the road if left unattended.
The 76ers have to be careful about their minutes allocation moving forward
Nick Nurse has resorted to starting his five best players with Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Paul George, Kelly Oubre Jr., and Caleb Martin opening games lately. However, since their win at Boston, the team has milked the hell out of its starters minutes-wise.
In the last two games, all five starters have played north of 30 minutes with the bench getting little run. While this can simply be tossed up as Nurse being, well, Nurse, the lack of leeway for rest he has given to his preferred starting unit is far from sustainable.
Sure, the wins look sterling at the moment after two months of bleak basketball, but overtaxing your best players in December should not be the intentional design. This team is made up of injury-prone parts, and the coaching staff cannot play tango with the injury bug by not employing more preventive measures on the court here and there.
Of course, it’s not like the coaching staff has everything in control. Jared McCain is already out for the season. Andre Drummond and Eric Gordon are currently sidelined. So is KJ Martin. To be fair, the lack of ammunition off the bench has also forced them to go to the extremes minutes-wise.
Hopefully, this should come out as a call for the front office to seek solutions to address the team’s burgeoning depth issue. Otherwise, the Philadelphia 76ers will be in a similar position from year’s past — physically vulnerable and visibly exhausted come April.