The Philadelphia 76ers, who are off to a 2-10 start, are set to visit the Miami Heat on Monday night.
Philadelphia has made seven straight playoff appearances. However, the 76ers haven’t reached the conference finals since 2001.
This season was supposed to be different, especially considering the 76ers signed nine-time All-Star Paul George in July.
Philadelphia now has a “Big Three” of George, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.
However, Embiid is off to a slow start due to an issue with his left knee and also a three-game NBA suspension for shoving a reporter during a locker-room confrontation.
In two games this season, Embiid is averaging just 16.5 points — less than half his stat line for 2023-24, when he scored 34.7. His rebounds are down from 11.0 last season to 5.5 this year. And his shooting percentage has dipped from 52.9 to 26.9.
Meanwhile, Maxey has missed the past five games due to an injured right hamstring.
George, 34, has played just half of Philadelphia’s 12 games, and his numbers are all down from last season, including scoring (from 22.6 to 16.5) to shooting (47.1 to 39.8) to 3-pointers (41.3 to 31.1).
With George and Embiid slumping and Maxey out, the 76ers produced little offense in a 98-86 loss at Orlando on Friday. Two former Heat players started for the 76ers in that game: Kyle Lowry (four points) and Caleb Martin (three points).
“It’s obviously frustrating,” said George, who started this season on the shelf due to a left knee bone bruise. “Nobody here is happy with the start of our season.
“But (an NBA) season is long.”
The bright spot for Philadelphia is rookie guard Jared McCain, who is averaging 28.3 points over his past four games. A first-rounder (16th overall) out of Duke, McCain in 12 games is shooting 40.3 percent on 3-pointers, 53.5 percent on 2-pointers and 27-for-27 on the foul line.
Meanwhile, the Heat have struggled overall but mostly at home, where they are just 1-3.
“We need to protect home court,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said. “It’s been something we’ve been struggling with.”
The Heat on Sunday completed a six-game road trip with a 119-110 loss to the Indiana Pacers. Miami got 28 points from Herro, 24 from Bam Adebayo and 20 from Duncan Robinson.
However, the Heat got outscored in the paint, 62-28.
“They came out with more urgency than us,” Herro said. “We wanted to protect the paint, and we didn’t do that.”
The Heat went 2-4 on a road trip that ended on Sunday, but there were extenuating circumstances as Miami star Jimmy Butler missed the final four games due to a sprained right ankle.
In addition, Heat reserve Jaime Jaquez Jr. sprained his right ankle on Sunday, and he appears likely to miss some time.
“I’ve had a history of being able to bounce back from these ankle sprains,” Jaquez said. “I’ve had a lot of them.”
As for Miami’s overall 5-7 record, Herro said: “It’s early in the season, but, at some point, we need to turn it on.”
The 76ers feel the same way.
