To the surprise of no one, the Philadelphia 76ers turned in yet another disappointing performance. Just a few days after a players-only meeting that sought to shift the tide, the team put out a stale outing on the road against the Grizzlies, which handed them their 12th loss of the season .
For the first time this season, the 76ers bannered Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey. To make things even shinier, they kept breakout rookie Jared McCain in the starting unit, giving Philly a very formidable opening group that should have no issues beating a Ja Morant-less Memphis team, right? Wrong.
After the Grizzlies mounted a double-digit lead in the second quarter, the 76ers were stuck playing catch up, and their porous perimeter defense didn’t do them in favors in any comeback trail. It also does not help that they were once again slapped by an ugly reality, which only took 17 minutes to kick in, by the way.
76ers run across new setback as Paul George re-injures knee
Paul George exited the game after just 17 minutes as he re-injured his knee, the same one he hyperextended a month ago which forced him to miss a handful of games early on. Classic 76ers, huh?
Just when the team is finally getting an opportunity to kickstart the chemistry between their stars, one major part of the equation falters. At this point, this is more than mere coincidence. All the kismet and karmic forces in the world must have collaborated to seek unwarranted vengeance on this franchise.
Wave of emotions aside, this brand new setback only paints a picture of reality for Philadelphia — as long as they keep relying on injury-prone stars, trying to bake some chemistry and consistency will be a lot tougher for them than most teams.
Especially in this situation where the 76ers have to mount a winning streak just to break even in their win-loss card, stars missing games here and there only favors their opponents. This team is already parading a nightly sight of lack of on-court coherence, and injuries will only exacerbate these issues.
Hopefully, George comes back in a flash, but at this juncture, it would be more prudent for the Philadelphia 76ers to not cave in to public pressure and seek a one-off solution instead of rushing things despite the debris still yet to be tidied up — the story of the season so far for the league’s biggest blunder.