Philadelphia 76ers failed 118-116 in opposition to the Phoenix Suns Monday to start a 3-game West Coast street journey. Paul George made his long-awaited debut and had 15 factors on 4 of 14 capturing, 5 assists and 4 rebounds together with six turnovers.
The Suns are off to begin, so it is not a horrible loss on paper while you additionally contemplate Joel Embiid’s absence, however nonetheless, the Sixers fell to 1-5 on the season. They may now journey to California to face two robust groups, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Coach Nick Nurse gave his ideas on George’s debut, which helped the offense move higher. The Sixers struggled by way of the primary 5 video games of the season to actually discover any rhythm or move, however George’s presence helped.
“I believe the true positives are sure,” Nurse advised reporters of George’s debut. “Definitely a very powerful factor is the 27 assists. That is a very powerful quantity for us this 12 months to this point. So clearly, once more, only one dynamic offensive creator adjustments so much. There’s much more area to play, much more alternatives to maneuver the basketball, I believe we did job.”
That being stated, the Sixers struggled to execute in transition down the stretch. After going up 115-108 with 3:39 left, they struggled as they solely produced one level on a Tyrese Maxey free throw. Kelly Oubre Jr. had a chance on the basket on a fast quick break that was blocked by Kevin Durant and the Sixers had extra probabilities to place the sport away, however could not.
“Once more, I do not know what number of factors we gave up in three-on-one, four-on-two, four-on-one transitions just a few instances,” Nurse stated. “I can consider three within the second half that have been, ‘Oh, right here we go, here is a dunk or a layup,’ and we did not get something out of them. We blocked one and the opposite two we obtained So, I believe once more, we had transition alternatives that we might have taken benefit of whereas shifting the scoreboard ahead slightly bit.
Then again, Nurse needs to be pleased with the photographs his crew is producing. There have been many instances after they appeared good. George, Guerschon Yabusele and Maxey all had alternatives, however they simply did not let it go.
“I believe within the final 5 minutes of the sport, I will say we had plenty of the identical photographs that we hit and we simply had a dry spell the place we obtained it,” stated Nurse. “We had just a few alternatives to present slightly extra stretch up entrance and a few beauty. It wasn’t like we have been sputtering and never getting photographs and all that sort of stuff. We’re just a bit bit Unlucky clearly they did plenty of issues down the stretch and once we obtained a cease on the final possession they obtained the rebound again to take one other have a look at it. to complete the match as a result of, as soon as once more, I believe it was fairly first rate photographs.”
This text was initially printed on Sixers Wire: Nick Nurse assesses Paul George and the Sixers after their street loss to the Suns
