3 observations after Sixers slide to 1-3 with loss to Pistons

3 observations after Sixers slide to 1-3 with loss to Pistons originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Pistons are no longer winless and the Sixers still have no winning streaks.

Detroit moved to 1-4 this season with a decisive win Wednesday night at Wells Fargo Center, notching a 105-95 victory over the Sixers.

Tyrese Maxey posted 32 points and seven assists for the Sixers, who dropped to 1-3.

Detroit’s Cade Cunningham scored 22 points and Jaden Ivey had 23.

The Sixers remained without Joel Embiid (left knee injury management) and Paul George (left knee bone bruise).

Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said pregame that he expected both players to do on-court work Thursday and Friday. Nurse again offered no firm return timelines but said that he thought he’d have a clearer idea Friday. The Sixers’ next game is Saturday night vs. the Grizzlies.

Here are observations on the team’s loss to Detroit:

Harris’ winning trip back

To no one’s surprise, Tobias Harris was booed on every touch in his return to Philadelphia.

The Sixers played a short joint tribute video for Harris and Paul Reed at the game’s first stoppage. Reed got an unmistakably warmer reception than Harris.

The home crowd enjoyed when Harris missed two long-range shots in quick succession on Detroit’s final possession of the first quarter. Ditto for a Maxey step-back jumper over Harris in the second period.

Several of Harris’ leaners and floaters did not bounce generously in Wednesday night’s first half. He scored a few hoops inside during the third quarter and had a nice second half, ending the evening with 18 points on 8-for-18 shooting and 14 rebounds.

Sixers slide into serious hole 

The Sixers’ first-quarter offense revolved largely around Maxey-Andre Drummond pick-and-rolls.

Maxey was effective, subtly varying his timing and converting difficult buckets, including an and-one leaner and a sweet scoop shot. He followed up his 45-point performance Sunday against the Pacers with a 10-point first quarter.

Nurse subbed Maxey out a tad earlier than usual, removing him with 3:12 left in the first period. While the Sixers were fine to close out the first quarter, they were abysmal to start the second. Rookie Ron Holland II’s fast-break layup capped a 15-0 Pistons run that put Detroit up 37-28.

One of the Sixers’ biggest problems was their lack of run-stopping options. Without Embiid and George, every opponent knows the Sixers are low on players who can create their own shots. The Sixers’ jumpers were all cold in the second quarter, too. The team began 4 for 16 from three-point range.

According to Cleaning the Glass, the Sixers rank 25th in the NBA in three-point frequency and last in three-point accuracy outside of garbage time (28.6 percent).

“I thought we generated some great looks from three early in the game,” Nurse said, “and, for whatever reason … there were a couple possessions where I thought, ’That one should’ve been shot, that one should’ve been shot, and that one should’ve been shot.’ And all of a sudden, none of them were shot and then we’re jammed at the end of the shot clock — not very good.

“So when we generate those catch-and-shoots, we’ve got to pull the trigger. I think we were hesitant on a lot of stuff.”

As the Sixers’ misses piled up, Detroit also seemed to chase down most balls that were up for grabs. The Pistons grabbed three offensive rebounds on a single second-quarter possession and appeared to gain confidence that they could beat this version of the Sixers.

Pistons close the door without trouble

The Sixers sunk into a 21-point deficit when Malik Beasley drilled a second-chance three.

Almost everything in the Sixers’ half-court offense was on Maxey’s shoulders. The Sixers had little in the way of meaningful secondary offense. Nurse tried unconventional lineups and used zone defense late in the third quarter, but the Pistons kept on scoring and the Sixers couldn’t keep pace.

“We didn’t do a good enough job of waiting, setting, separating on Tyrese’s screen-and-rolls,” Nurse said. “He just wasn’t getting enough separation on those things to create some type of advantage. He did get a good number of shots downhill. And what did he have, 10 cracks at the three? A couple of those were pretty tough, but I think most of the other ones, we want him to take.

“But he scored enough tonight, right? We need some other guys. We need some production from Eric (Gordon) and Kyle (Lowry) and Drum. Everybody’s got to chip in right now.”

Detroit’s early-season struggles in the fourth quarter resurfaced early in Wednesday night’s final period. Starting big man Jalen Duren fouled out early in the fourth and the Sixers found some juice. Jared McCain, Maxey and KJ Martin also scored inside during a 9-0 Sixers spurt that cut the Pistons’ lead to 87-77.

The Pistons avoided any true shakiness, though. Soon enough, they had a 20-point advantage again and their first win firmly secure.

“There’s a lot of different pieces on why we’ve been losing,” Maxey said. “I think the Raptors game, we didn’t play hard enough, honestly. We just didn’t play hard enough and didn’t play well enough. And in the Milwaukee game, they made some shots, we messed up some coverages. Tonight, they outplayed us. … They outrebounded us, they out-toughed us and they got to where they wanted to get to.”

In Maxey’s words, “the margin for error is so slim to none” with Embiid and George out.

“We can’t have empty possessions,” he said. “We can’t have plays where we don’t know what we’re doing. We can’t have lapses on defense with those two guys out. That’s just the nature of it, that’s the life of it. … We have to be more prepared than the other team.

“We have to know what we’re running, when we’re running it, and we have to know the scouting report. We have to know what we’re going to do and we have to execute that plan. Whatever the coaches are telling us to do … we have to execute it.”