But picking up two wins against the Orlando Magic and Houston Rockets, the latter of which Maxey was particularly excellent in, gave the Sixers something positive to take back to Philly. Tobias Harris pitched in some key scoring and role players like Marcus Morris Sr., Patrick Beverley and Paul Reed each had their moments.
How does Nick Nurse view the Sixers’ road trip now that it’s over? He told reporters in Chicago that he liked how his team competed and was pleased to return home with two more wins.
“I would probably say the same thing I just told the team. I said, ‘Listen, that was a difficult road trip,’” Nurse said. “And without Joel the whole way, I think that — I kind of said I’m looking forward to it and we needed it. And I’m glad we got out of it 2-2 right? I think any of the winds on that road trip were all gonna be hard and we were able to pick off two of them.
“And again, I thought we fought really hard in the other two,” Nurse continued. “I thought we gave ourselves a chance in Miami after not playing that well and we still had a close game down the stretch. This one wasn’t as close down the stretch but I think we were doing everything we could to fight and stay in it.”
These games were key for Maxey, who got to bear the weight of being the primary option for a stretch of games. There were moments of brilliance and brutal shooting slumps against some very solid competition. Experiencing such extremes in opposite directions can help sculpt Maxey’s mindset when it comes to leading the Sixers’ offense with and without Embiid.
Especially considering that the Sixers had yet to win a game that Embiid missed before this road trip, picking up two over a pair of good teams (even with some key players of theirs also sitting out) is huge. The schedule is about to soften up a bit and include a string of consecutive home games. After slogging through this road stretch, Philly will be expected to get back to winning more often.
The Sixers won’t want to have many more of these double-win sandwiches on loss bread. But considering all the circumstances, they can afford to stomach one this time.
“We had a lot of opportunities that we normally knock down and make,” Harris said after the loss to the Bulls. “Outside of that, just too many hustle plays for them. Offensive rebounds, killed us on the glass. They just had a lot more energy and pop to them. Nonetheless, I think we still fought to be in the game. Just didn’t go our way tonight. Shots, myself and our whole group, just one of those games.
“Not to make any excuses,” the Sixers forward said. “We still gotta figure out a way to battle through and find a little bit of something like we did in the last game to give us a victory. But we’ll learn from it.”
GET MORE NEWS HERE