Tyrese Maxey, Sixers Searching for Improved Competitive Nature

Knowing that Joel Embiid will be out of the rotation for the foreseeable future, the Philadelphia 76ers can’t lean on the seven-time All-Star's star power when times get tough. Now is the time the Sixers need to come together and figure out how to stay on track while missing one of the best players in the world.

Monday night’s loss against the Dallas Mavericks proved the Sixers aren’t quite there yet.

Granted, excluding Embiid, the Sixers have a handful of other injuries they are battling with, but the coaching staff and the roster made it clear that’s not a valid excuse, as they are expected to remain competitive no matter what.

The first half of Monday’s game against Dallas went in favor of the Sixers. Offensively, the Sixers hit on nearly 50 percent of their shots. Defensively, they held the star duo of Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic to just 15 points. At halftime, the Sixers were out in front 57-53.

Although the third quarter was a low-scoring battle, with the Sixers struggling from the field, it was still a three-point game going into the final quarter of the night. Unfortunately for Philly, Dallas dominated from beyond the arc and outscored them 41-28.

The Sixers dropped Monday night’s matchup, collecting a 118-102 loss. With that, they moved to 30-19 on the season and are still in search of an identity without Embiid, who is headed for surgery sometime this week.

It could take some time before the Sixers figure out an Embiid-less identity, but one thing is for sure in the eyes of the star guard Tyrese Maxey: The Sixers need to improve their competitive nature moving forward.

“We got to make sure we are competitive,” Maxey said after Monday’s game. “It’s with or without Big Fella. Without him, we got to be extremely competitive. We got to play a lot harder. We got to go out there and play with a lot more edge and go out there and play together.”

This season, the Sixers have just four wins in 15 games without Embiid. After going on a six-game win streak in late January, which concluded in Indiana on January 25, the Sixers went on and dropped six of their last seven games, with their lone win being Tyrese Maxey’s 51-point outburst in Utah against the Jazz.

“We were just talking about, like, even the blitz or whatever happens, I got to come up with the ball faster, and maybe [Paul] Reed got to get in the pocket quicker,” Maxey expanded. “We all got to do it collectively, but it’s only one way we are going to fix it — that’s just staying together and going out there and working on it.”

The sky isn’t falling for the Sixers. Fortunately, their 61 percent winning percentage keeps them in the early playoff picture within the Eastern Conference. That’s not to say that they can live comfortably, though. Over the past week, the Sixers were surpassed by the Cleveland Cavaliers and the New York Knicks, losing their longstanding status as the third seed in the East.

While the Sixers have a three-game lead over the sixth-seeded Indiana Pacers, the young, pacey team from Indiana has proven that they can go on a run and quickly flip a switch when everybody’s healthy. This week, the Sixers need to find a way to click so they can remain competitive with the top seeds.

Their next challenge comes on Wednesday when they host the Golden State Warriors at home. The two teams will tip at 7:30 PM ET.