Philadelphia 76ers Weekly Report: It’s Over

Game 57: Monday, Feb. 24th, 2025

Chicago Bulls at Philadelphia 76ers

Final Score: CHI 142 – PHI 110

The Sixers really took advantage of their last chance to make the playoffs by getting completely blown out by the Chicago Bulls—the same Bulls who did not have either of their best players available at the beginning of the season. This game was not remotely close at any point, and it really highlights just how sad this season has been. With this loss, the Sixers need to take tanking seriously, and they’ve made some good moves in that direction. The season is officially over.

As for the game, this was the start of a dismal week for Tyrese Maxey, who, as it turns out, has a right-hand sprain that is affecting his shooting. Perhaps it’s an excuse since there hadn’t really been any hints of an injury until now after he shot unimaginably bad, but it would also explain said bad shooting. 

Paul George did his normal contribution of a nice stat line in a loss. For whatever reason, he was never good when they needed him. So many of his best games came in losses, often blowouts. It would be just the Sixers luck if, now that they want to lose, he starts performing in close games now, hopefully not the rest of this season.

Game 58: Wednesday, Feb. 26th, 2025

Philadelphia 76ers at New York Knicks

Final Score: NYK 110 – PHI 105

Paul George decided to spice things up with an incredibly tone-deaf announcement to put his podcast on hiatus to “help the Sixers contend.” Nothing about the timing of this situation was correct. By announcing it, you essentially admit that the podcast was negatively affecting your play. To do that now, when the team is already in a massive hole in large part because you are having your worst season ever, is a horribly bad look. It also comes right when the Sixers are essentially out and organizationally should be trying to tank. The timing could not have been worse.

Of course, the Sixers lost, made all the worse by the fact that George had a pretty dang good game. He had 25/8/7 on solid splits. Do I buy that the podcast was that big of a deal? No, but it does really hurt to see him play well right after his announcement. Kelly Oubre Jr continued his solid season, scoring 27. The real problem was Maxey, who scored 30 points on 32 shots, including going 0-10 from deep. Injury can’t explain all of this. Sure, the three-point shooting can be explained by injury, but Maxey would be effective driving and then would decide to just launch it from deep in the next play. That’s a mental mistake more than anything.

Also of note was Eric Gordon’s announcement that he would be out for the season, yet another injury in this cursed season. At the same time, at this point, it’s somewhat fortunate, as Gordon had been playing well since his wisdom teeth removal in December, and that would impede the tank. 

Game 59: Saturday, March. 1st, 2025

Golden State Warriors at Philadelphia 76ers

Final Score: PHI 126 – GSW 119

This one hurt, not just for the fact that the Sixers won and actually overtook the Brooklyn Nets again in the standings, but because it’s a demonstration of what could have been. Quentin Grimes, a trade dead-line pickup when there was still a modicum of hope, had the game of his life. He dropped a career-high 44 points. He couldn’t miss from any range, except funnily enough, the free-throw line where he went 2-8.

Getting a performance like that out of Grimes really makes you wonder what the full-strength Sixers could be. Of course, Oubre and Guerschon Yabusele also played well. George was efficient and useful, but it’s another case where he is more than happy to defer to anyone else. When Grimes is as hot as he was it is the right move, but it’s the wrong mindset for a max player. Not to go there, but Tobias Harris put up stat lines like this all the time. Maxey finished his bad week with more of the same, going 2-14. Having a team good enough to carry one of your stars playing this poorly should be encouraging. At this point, though, it’s just salt in the wound.

Of course, the tank was officially announced after this game when Joel Embiid was declared out for the season. There’s been so much talk about Embiid’s knees just being completely shot, and now there is drama between the Sixers front office and Embiid about how to treat the injury going forward, which is a similar situation to both Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz with their career-altering injuries. That’s a bad precedent.

With Embiid and Gordon now out for the season, and Maxey and George dealing with hand injuries, the season is over, let’s get them next year. 

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Patrick Yen is a contributor on Back Sports Page.  He has written for NBC, SB Nation, and a few other websites during his journalism career. He has been the Back Sports Page beat writer for the Philadelphia 76ers and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Patrick, a graduate of Ohio State University, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but moved to Columbus, Ohio, early in his life and has lived there ever since. You can find more of Patrick on Twitter @pyen117.