PHILADELPHIA — Doc Rivers insists he has more pressing matters than determining the 76ers’ playoff rotation with less than three weeks remaining in the 2021-22 NBA regular season.
Prior to Monday’s surprising 113-106 home victory over the Eastern Conference-leading Heat despite stars Joel Embiid (back soreness) and James Harden (left hamstring injury recovery) sitting out, Rivers said he’s more concerned with how the 44-27 Sixers perform when one of Embiid or Harden is playing and the other is on the bench.
They’ve been very good with Embiid and Harden on the floor as a duo, but not as effective with Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and typically two or three bench guys, as well as Harden and Tobias Harris paired with two or three reserves. Harden seems to get the most out of Matisse Thybulle, so Harden is usually out there when Thybulle is.
“Our rhythm and how we play there, to me, is very important for us,” Rivers said. “We’ve been inconsistent in that. We’ve figured out the Joel and James together pretty well. The separation of the two — one night it seems like the one group is doing well and the next night it’s the other group. What we’re really looking for is 48 consistent minutes of good play. And we haven’t done that yet.”
It’s something Rivers will be watching closely on the three-game West Coast trip that begins Wednesday night against the Lakers and includes dates with the Clippers (Friday) and NBA-leading Suns (Sunday). The regular season ends April 10 vs. the visiting Pistons.
The Sixers have compiled an 8-3 record in 11 games with Harden since the blockbuster trade with the Nets, which is quite good. That all three losses have come at home, including Sunday’s 93-88 setback to the shorthanded Raptors in which Philadelphia scored 37 first-quarter points and then the offense stagnated, isn’t quite as good.
Matchup between Sixers’ Joel Embiid and Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic has MVP ramifications
Could Ben Simmons saga help turn Sixers-Nets into a real rivalry?
Can Sixers win a title with James Harden? Here’s how other teams fared after deadline deals
One thing the Sixers need to do is move the ball more like they did Monday with Embiid and Harden back in the lineup and not stand around as much as in the loss to Toronto the night before. And the other players, especially the fearless Maxey, need to defer less to the two perennial all-stars and continue the same aggressive offensive approaches as sans Embiid and Harden.
“We’re still a work in progress,” said Maxey, who scored 13 of his game-high 28 points in the fourth quarter Monday. “We got to keep trending upwards and have great momentum going into the playoffs.”
Embiid and Harden probably won’t play in all 11 of the games left on the Sixers’ schedule, but they should be available for the bulk of them barring an unforeseen circumstance.
Rivers has repeatedly said the rotation will essentially determine itself by showing him who deserves the minutes. Right now, that’s the five starters — Maxey, Harden, Thybulle, Harris and Embiid — plus backups Danny Green, Georges Niang and DeAndre Jordan, with Shake Milton as a fringe ninth guy. Milton helped his chances for a more regular role Monday, contributing a season-high 20 points in 31 minutes.
Niang has been productive as a shooter off the bench, but Green has hit just 5 of 19 3-pointers over the past five games and Jordan hasn’t been as big of an interior defensive deterrent as the Sixers need him to be since signing here via the buyout market.
It remains to be seen if Isaiah Joe, Paul Millsap, who received a rare start Monday, Paul Reed or Furkan Korkmaz can show they merit minutes during the rest of the regular season or playoffs. Korkmaz, who has essentially been mired in a season-long shooting slump, knocked down his first five shots, three of which were 3-pointers, on the way to 18 points vs. Miami.
“I’m not that close (to my playoff rotation) and I’m not that concerned by it, either, to be honest,” Rivers said. “I’m just not. We give a lot of talk to rotations around here. I guess it’s a Philly thing — I don’t know. I always laugh at it. So if we set our rotation and one guy plays poorly, should we not play someone else off the bench? Or should we just stick to it?”
Perhaps the answer is the players capable of being the most productive alongside Harden or Embiid should get an opportunity.
Tom Moore: tmoore@couriertimes; @TomMoorePhilly
