The Philadelphia 76ers lost 114-106 to the Brooklyn Nets, a loss against one of the league's worst teams. After the loss, 76ers head coach Nick Nurse admitted that they were short-handed, especially with the loss of their depth.
Joel Embiid exited the game with an injury, so the 76ers were even more depleted. It was a challenging night, but the 76ers could have done better. Nurse believes the injuries were the main reason behind the loss.
Nurse admitted the 76ers lacked explosiveness
After the loss to the Nets, the 76ers are now 16-12 in the season. This was a disappointing result because the 76ers could have leapfrogged the Toronto Raptors for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. It was supposed to be an easy game, but the Nets showed fire.
Embiid admitted after the game that he was good to return, so his injury is not a long-term issue. However, they would have loved to get him back because he was their best player. Apart from Embiid, no one scored more than 19 points, so they could have done much better.
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The Nets had a superb Michael Porter Jr. Performance with his 28 points and rookie guard Egor Demin scoring 20 points of his own. If the 76ers had a healthier team, they would have had a decent set of defenders, but unfortunately, VJ Edgecombe, Dominick Barlow, and Quentin Grimes were on the sidelines.
"You know what we missed? We missed three athletes. Other than Tyrese, that's our speed right there. Q, explosive, Barlow, athlete, and VJ, athlete. It made it hard for Tyrese because we lacked another guy who could crack into the paint," Nurse said after losing to the Nets.
Moving forward, Nurse must find ways to win games when they don't have a complete roster. The 76ers have plenty of talented players, and it is up to him to set them up well, as they should not crumble when they lose certain players.
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