Doc Rivers not concerned with Sixers struggles without Joel Embiid yet
The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the top teams in the league and they sit atop the Eastern Conference, but they continue to struggle whenever their star big man misses a game. With Monday’s loss to the Detroit Pistons, the Sixers fell to 0-4 without their big man, 0-3 if one takes out the loss to the Denver Nuggets where they had seven players.
Monday’s loss seemed a bit concerning as they could not generate any offense and they could not stop the Pistons on the other end. At the end of the day, Philadelphia is still 12-6 and sit atop the conference.
“It’s what 19 games or whatever into the season,” said coach Doc Rivers. “I don’t have had a lot of panic concerns at this point in the season with all the guys have been in and out. I really don’t worry about it that much. Obviously, you have to win games without Joel, but you got to get your team in order first. I think the second half of the season if that happens, we’ll see more, but right now it’s not on my list of concerns. I’ll put it that way.”
Dwight Howard did not play well in this one averaging five points and four rebounds and he was a minus-23 on the night. The Sixers also had a bad loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Dec. 27 without Embiid where Howard struggled a bit in that game as well.
“Again, I’m just not concerned with it,” Rivers added. “A lot of these games we’ve had multiple guys out. Tonight, it was just Joel and Mike Scott and I think not having that extra 4 does make a difference, but we didn’t play well tonight. This is a very winnable game in my opinion.”
Sure, the Sixers just continue to not play well without the big fella, but it’s so early in the season and Rivers still believes in his group. They just need to continue to grow and develop.
“We just didn’t win the game but,” he finished. “I’m not gonna overdo it right now. It’s way too early. I’ll let you guys, push buttons. I like our team. I like how we’re playing overall. It’s one loss, I’m not gonna go and put my head in the sand or anything like that.”
The Sixers will now return home to host the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday,
