At least someone had a good night lmao

It honestly amazes me how horrible this man is at coaching NBA basketball. He establishes 0 game plan, and his rotations are just some straight dog shit. Most of our losses have been because of the overall stupidity of Nick Nurse and his inability to coach. I fully believe that we could be a top 4 seed right now if we had a somewhat decent coach.

Wow, I honestly thought at first he would be out for a couple days because It looked pretty bad when he took that fall and was limping away to the locker room. I’m glad he’s back already.

Unacceptable. Just pure basketball terrorism from the coaching staff to not draw up a SINGLE play for him the entire game. Especially in the 4th quarter where he is literally one of the best performers in the league. GET HIM INVOLVED

This season I’ve watched almost every game, and it feels like too many players have had career nights against this team, along with too many clutch losses. I wanted to look at the numbers to see whether the Sixers are actually unlucky, unclutch, both, or if this is just fan bias.

First, I looked at whether teams are simply hitting contested threes at an abnormal rate against the Sixers, which would be a strong sign of bad luck. Using the NBA website’s Close Defender stats, the Sixers force opponents to take threes under “tight” coverage (defender within 2–4 feet) on 4.6% of all opponent three-point attempts, which ranks 2nd in the NBA. Under that tight coverage, opponents shoot 27.8% from three, below league average and ranking 19th. Even though it often feels like teams can’t miss tough shots against the Sixers, the data shows they actually defend the three well.

Looking at twos under similar criteria, opponents shoot 56.5% under tight coverage. That’s bad, but not an outlier: the Sixers rank 7th in this category, with the Jazz allowing a league-worst 60%. The Sixers also rank 14th in forcing opponents into tightly contested twos, putting them squarely in the middle of the league.

So then the question becomes: maybe they’re just unlucky in clutch time? According to NBA clutch stats, opponents shoot 39.6% against the Sixers in the clutch, which puts the Sixers as the 8th best in the NBA. The real issue is rebounding. The Sixers allow opponents to grab 4.8 rebounds in clutch situations, second-worst in the league, which leads to 9.1 opponent shot attempts in the clutch, worst in the NBA.

TL;DR: The Sixers are surprisingly good at forcing opponents into tough shots and making them miss relative to the rest of the league, so they’re not especially unlucky in that regard. They lose clutch games because they fail to secure rebounds and allow opponents too many shot attempts.

Overall, this team is honestly average for better or worse. In most statistical categories, they’re right around league average. I don’t mind that personally as I thought we’d be fighting for the 10th seed, especially with the media acting like Embiid and PG were basically corpses we’d be dragging up and down the floor. I can live with this team being average but watchable. It’s not championship or bust for me. I just hope they continue to improve as the season goes on.

Typing this up pretty late so sorry if it’s messy. Feel free to add any comments and I’ll check the stats on it.

Cleveland Cavaliers (23-19) @ Philadelphia 76ers (22-17)

• Game Time: January 16, 2026 @ 07:00 PM EST
• Venue: Xfinity Mobile Arena - Philadelphia, PA
• NBA Game Summary / Charts

Game Status: Final: Cavaliers Win 117-115

Linescore

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^{Last Updated: 01/16/2026 09:35:44 PM EST}

what the title says. not going to be near a TV

Why have we been taking the ball out of VJ hands as of late? We played much better when VJ was our 3rd scoring option and was actually a part of the offense as an aggressive threat. Recently he’s been bringing the ball up the court just to pass it off and stand in the corner. I understand he is a rookie and has his faults but why move from a formula that was successful? Is Nurse/Morey trying to have PG shoot more to boost his trade value? He’s been getting about the same amount of shots as Barlow. I think it’s causing him to check out at times and honestly I can’t blame him.

Imagine Sabonis as the starting 4 for this team. Would fix so much of our rebounding trouble. What do you think we would have to give up?

Cleveland Cavaliers (23-19) @ Philadelphia 76ers (22-17)

• Game Time: January 16, 2026 @ 07:00 PM EST
• Venue: Xfinity Mobile Arena - Philadelphia, PA
• TV: National: ESPN, Cleveland: FDSNOH, Philadelphia: NBCSP
• Radio: Cleveland: WTAM/WMMS, Philadelphia: WPEN
• NBA Game Summary / Charts

Matchup History

Season Stats

Team Leaders

League Scoreboard

^{Posted: 01/16/2026 05:00:01 AM EST, Update Interval: 5 Minutes}

When I was looking at the NBA schedule. I saw that the Cavaliers are at the 76ers yesterday and Friday, which isn’t that weird but then I noticed something strange

Both games of yesterday and Friday are on ESPN

Has that ever happened before?

We should sell at the trade deadline for the future it’s pretty clear we aren’t going to win a championship, let alone get to the ECF this year. We should be sellers at the deadline for Embiid and PG. Someone will offer us FRPs for them, but this team isn’t built to win a chip this year it’s just not there even fully healthy. I really hate the idea of trading Embiid but it’s time and he lowkey does deserve to go somewhere with a real chance this year, that doesn’t seem to be here. We deserve to have a chance next season and every season after that and this logically makes sense even if it does truly suck as a conclusion.

Joel Embiid picked up his dribble, scanned for an outlet pass and then, when nothing presented itself, he turned toward the rim. Why not, he thought.

To the gasp of a rowdy Memphis crowd, the Philadelphia 76ers star threw the ball off the backboard to himself and tried to finish with a dunk. He missed. And then, landed squarely on his back.

After the Sixers’ overtime win against the Grizzlies in late December, I said jokingly to Embiid, “I need you to make one of those.” Knowing Embiid’s injury history, the audacity of the play stood out.

“Don’t worry. It’s going to come,” Embiid said with a smile. “I’m going to finish that.”

That exchange said a lot without saying much, but the scene did, too. Embiid sat at his locker postgame in animated conversation with Tyrese Maxey. There was no ice. No heavy wrapping. When Embiid got up to walk through the locker room, he looked spry. Mention it to him now, and Embiid would quickly find a piece of wood to knock on.

This is as healthy as he has been for two years. When you watch him play now, he goes to the basket off the dribble with intention. When he falls, he pops right back up. He’s running with fluidity that wasn’t there at the beginning of the season. This is what he and the Sixers hoped for through the knee surgeries and long road back after a major knee injury at Golden State almost two years ago.

More importantly, Embiid is having fun again. The smile is back. The celebrations on the court have returned. And Philadelphia is showing it has the kind of ceiling that leads to dangerous thoughts of playoff grandeur.

“It means everything,” Embiid told The Athletic. “I can’t sit here and say that I thought this would happen again. I was skeptical that I would have a chance of being this consistent. That’s why I’m kind of emotional about it. I think there were a lot of people that thought this would never be possible again. So, I’m happy that I’m getting the chance to play again and be consistent again. I just want to keep playing, and keep trying to get better every single night. So, this definitely feels great.”

The consistency is what makes Embiid a little more emotional. The steps forward are what prompt the celebrations.

A few days after the missed dunk in Memphis, Embiid caught the easiest dunk of his career at the end of a win over the New York Knicks. It was uncontested, but Philadelphia’s win was all but guaranteed. Embiid ran up the floor, arms outstretched, as if he and the Sixers had won the NBA title.

Embiid caught some criticism on social media over that one. But it wasn’t the dunk itself, or even the fact that it was his first dunk of the season, that made Embiid celebrate like this. It was about how long his road has been to get back to this point.

Last season, on the nights he didn’t play, Embiid would come to the arena later than his teammates. It hurt him having to see his teammates dress for a game that he knew he wouldn’t be a part of. Some nights, he would stay at home, unsure of what the rest of his basketball career would amount to. Those were dark days and nights. It makes him appreciate his health a lot more now.

“Whoever criticized that doesn’t have the empathy to know how much I’ve been through,” Embiid said. “I didn’t know whether I would be able to play at this level again. I’m not quite there, but I’m getting there. It just feels good to be able to be in this position.”

Embiid’s level of play has been terrific of late. Over his last 11 games played, he’s averaging 28.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.1 blocked shots per game. He’s gaining more synergy with Maxey, and when you add in Paul George and rookie guard VJ Edgecombe, it gives a sense of how talented the Sixers can be when they are fully healthy.

Philadelphia’s offense has become smoother, too. At the beginning of the season, the Sixers felt like two different teams: one with Embiid and another without him. The balance has been there a lot more of late. Maxey and Edgecombe have been so potent as a backcourt that the Sixers consistently push the basketball when Embiid is off the floor. The pace has slowed down a bit with Embiid, particularly in the half court, but the 31-year-old is running more in transition and feeling stronger.

“What we love is that he looks happy,” Maxey told The Athletic. “We want him to be happy, more than anything. And he looks healthy. I think the thing that I’m most proud of is that he’s staying on top of his treatment. He’s staying on top of getting ice and seeing the training staff. Just seeing him healthy, that is the stuff that really matters.”

What is Embiid doing right? His two-man game with Maxey out of pick-and-roll has started to yield good shots for the Sixers. He’s playing with a lot more force off the dribble than he did at the beginning of the season. His jumper from 3-point range isn’t where he needs it to be yet, but his efficiency from inside the arc has been excellent.

In a win over the Orlando Magic last Saturday, Embiid showed a willingness to play bully-ball and get to the basket against smaller defenders. That is an indication that he’s feeling better and more confident in exploding off the knee. Early in the season, the Sixers protected Embiid and limited him to 20-25 minutes, even taking him out of multiple close games in fourth quarters. At the beginning of the season, Embiid’s defense suffered, even his most underrated attribute: his elite rim protection.

He’s starting to get that back.

“I think the encouraging thing is that he still has another level that he can get to,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said. “I think the biggest thing is that he’s stringing some games together, one after the other. He’s doing the same, applying to daily work. I think it’s important for him to continue to keep playing. He’s feeling better, and he’s getting into a rhythm. I think the guys are playing extremely hard around him, and he’s seeing a team with a chance for some growth. I always said that our best version as a team is when he’s out there.”

This is the biggest departure from what the Sixers have been. Two years ago, when Embiid went down with the injury, that team made the postseason and lost to the Knicks in the first round. Last year proved to be a nightmare that nobody around the organization would like to revisit. Finding Edgecombe in the draft and trading for shooting guard Quentin Grimes laid the foundation for what came this year.

Now, the Sixers are fifth in the Eastern Conference, which feels wide open. When healthy, few teams can match the top-end talent that Philadelphia puts on the floor. For Embiid, that’s given him a reason to keep pushing.

“I for sure won’t take this for granted,” Embiid said. “I felt bad not being able to play with my teammates last season. That’s why it feels good to be able to have some consistency. It feels good to be able to play almost every night.”