Sixers defeated by Suns in another stinky offensive outing

The Sixers lost 109-99 to the Phoenix Suns on Monday night, with a late Tyrese Maxey barrage not enough to erase poor transition defense and a terrible outing for Paul George.

Here’s what I saw.

The Good

— Welcome back, Kelly Oubre. No one has to pretend his absence from the lineup has been as meaningful as the loss of one of their stars, but watching them play without him was a reminder that he’s one of their few genuine shot-creators. With Oubre showing a lot more discretion over the last month and change, you’re a lot more willing to give him opportunities and trust him to make the right plays.

Phoenix had a lot of exploitable defenders on the floor in this one, either due to size or willingness to get after it, but Oubre deserves credit for being one of the few Sixers capable of taking advantage of it. During a third-quarter run that pulled the Sixers back from what looked like a brewing blowout, all Philadelphia did was look for Oubre. It was Oubre attacking with speed from the top of the key; Oubre scoring an and-one through Jusuf Nurkic on a deep catch; Oubre attacking the rim after an offensive rebound; and Oubre ignoring an open Justin Edwards to draw another foul and a round of applause.

(On that final one, I’m cool just letting Kelly cook, because he had certainly earned it.)

Had his teammates offered the same energy, they might have had a chance to win this one. Alas…

— Guerschon Yabusele seems to like playing against the Phoenix Suns, who spent the majority of two matchups this season completely ignoring him on the perimeter. He may have been a candidate to ignore during his first NBA stint in Boston, but a lot of coaches need to update their scouting reports on the Frenchman, who entered the game shooting 38.5 percent from three.

Yabusele has been a good fill-in starter when Embiid has missed time this season, and thank goodness for that because it often feels like his presence is the only thing allowing them to have a functional offense. A wide-open three for Yabusele is obviously a good outcome for an offensive possession, and the Suns were gift-wrapping those for him on Monday night. But he also forces opposing bigs to play in space, moving them around the floor and opening up driving lanes and post-up space for their higher-usage players. He doesn’t need to have the gravity of Embiid to help Tyrese Maxey and Paul George create good offense.

The Bad

— I wish I felt better about Paul George’s season than I do, because he has helped set the defensive tone and keep the team at a respectable level on that end despite the mountain of nonsense they’ve been trying to climb. But he has played over a quarter-season’s worth of games and has had something like four good games on offense. And it’s not like he has lacked for opportunities to stretch his wings and score, given how many times they have played without Embiid this season.

Once again, some of these problems come down to the offensive process. Many of the “PG possessions” are slow, meandering possessions that end with George taking some variety of a contested midrange jumper, either as a straight pull-up or even as a turnaround from the mid-post. He has had the shotmaking talent to produce out of those possessions during his career, but they’re not shots that you should be relying on to get rolling during a down season with the team struggling to score. It’s on George and the coaching staff to recognize that, or at least get away from defaulting to that playstyle.

(Seriously, get this guy coming off of more screens. His numbers on threes are not very good this year, but I have much higher confidence that he can turn it around there than I do in his ability to sustain the offense on pull-up jumpers and post isos.)

But George’s inability to bend defenses and create downhill pressure gets more noticeable by the day, especially as you watch Oubre take similar opportunities and go all the way to the rim, drawing fouls and scoring layups for his trouble. It’s one thing to expect George to be a bit slower and more methodical — that’s just how he goes about things — and another for him to be played to a standstill over and over again. Teams are preying on his handle, forcing George to either pick the ball up and resest possessions or turn it over outright.

The defense and rebounding have been good, but suffice it to say they didn’t bring him here to be Robert Covington. Getting George going is a top priority because the concept of the team sort of falls apart if he’s as unreliable as the role players. Brutal first year in Philadelphia.

— There are far too many times per night where you think “What are the Sixers running?” watching them on offense. They came out of a timeout in the second half on Monday and the best shot they could get was a spinning, fadeaway two from Paul George. In fact, I can’t remember more than a couple of nice plays they’ve run out of timeouts all season. Not the end all, be all of team tactics, but still.

— Everyone has their favorite explanation for the up and down nature of Tyrese Maxey’s season, and I don’t know that I agree with any of them.

• “He’s not a point guard” is a claim that ignores how the nature of the position has changed over the last two decades.
• “He’s an Embiid merchant” isn’t really fair to Maxey, and also overstates the success he has had with Joel this year. In any case, of course he plays better with a better player available to help him attack mismatches and create space!
• Then there are the claims about what “ruined” his game, ranging from the muscle he put on to his new hairstyle to his current girlfriend. Needless to say, I think these are a waste of time to entertain.

He is a very talented player who also brings stylistic challenges once he’s a foundational player and not a guy on a cheap, rookie scale contact. You are wildly unlikely to find a “point guard” who provides the playmaking instincts he lacks without compromising your defense (the McCain/Maxey minutes were tough for that reason). Wing-sized playmakers make a gargantuan amount of money, so good luck adding one of those to the team barring a massive trade.

On Monday, Maxey was bad early and for a good chunk of the third quarter, but came alive with a massive solo run in the middle portion of the fourth. It was a reminder of what vintage Maxey looks like, taking him from what had been an okay performance to a pretty damn good one, adding tough finishes and catch-and-shoot threes to a ton of assists. But even after that fourth-quarter flurry, the Suns were ultimately able to corral him enough down the stretch to stop the comeback from being meaningful.

There was one possession late in the first half that showed exactly what a great version of solo attacking Maxey looks like. Tasked with driving through a crowd of Phoenix players, Maxey slammed on the brakes near the free-throw line and then exploded to the rim with a second burst, creating some separation for a layup. It’s the sort of approach I’ve been begging for in this space all season and would help cut down on the wild runners and shots he lets go while falling out of bounds.

Without Embiid, though, Maxey doesn’t have the luxury of struggling early or saving his bullets for the fourth. I don’t envy the challenge he faces every night, but it’s one he has to overcome.

The Ugly

— Disgusting free-throw shooting in this game.

— The Sixers have made a meal of some basic principles of early defense lately, with teams finding it much easier than they should to attack them immediately after the Sixers score. Phoenix had several possessions on Monday where they ran off of a make and waltzed right into the paint, invoking memories of last week’s blowout Sixers loss against the Warriors.

Attention to detail just isn’t there in transition. No excuse for it.