76ers Joel Embiid lost to injury In the first half, they lost the ability to sweep the Wizards and lost the fourth game away 122-114. Although their inability to sweep is a big problem, everyone now turns their attention to injury reports, which is an area that this team is familiar with.

This is what I see.

Kindness

• In the first half of this game, the 76ers did not perform well. Joel Embiid left the game after a fall, Ben Simmons was in foul trouble, Tobias Harris missed a shot at halftime or was blocked for a lot of time at the rim. Someone must stand up to keep them in the game, and George Hill eventually became the one who guided them through the difficulties.

At the trade deadline, he may not be the sexy move everyone hopes for, but it is clear that Hill is their most important substitute player after four games in the playoffs. His comfort with and without the ball is a major blessing for a team that has not yet figured out the rotation. Hill enters the set threes as if he attacked the basket after dribbling. Just as easy. Philadelphia needs him to do these two things against the Wizards.

This offensive flexibility (not to mention his defensive versatility) will be huge for the 76ers, assuming they will not collapse after Embiid is injured.

• This will not be a great performance, but Furkan Korkmaz is one of the only reasons the 76ers have a chance to win this game in the next game. Not only because he scored 7 points in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter-although these points are critical-Korkmaz stepped forward and decided to give Philadelphia a chance to win the game. The Turkish winger had a difficult offensive rebound and a subsequent goal earlier in the quarter, ending a singles that narrowed the 76ers to within three points.

This performance is a testament to Korkmaz, but it is also a testament to this team, who fought in adversity and found an unorthodox way to win the entire season. It would be great if they took the victory part down.

• Overall, for most of the game, it was a very bad night for Tyrese Maxey. As a decision maker, he was unstable in his early years and has not been common to him recently. It took him a while to become an attacker.

But, man, you have to admire the fearlessness of this kid. The rookie was Philadelphia’s best player in the fourth quarter, running solo at both ends to bring the 76ers back one city. After scoring a teardrop shot and hitting a three-pointer, Maxi’s block once again made Russell Westbrook rush to the rim, forcing him to make a mistake. This sequence makes you temporarily forget that he is only 20 years old.

Even in tougher times, I do think that rookies (mainly) played the same games with him in more than a month, and a team full of veterans is under pressure without Embiid’s increased expectations. collapsed. This is the first adversity a rookie faces in the playoffs, and in the long run, it will ultimately benefit him.

The stage is not big for him.This alone is a huge development for Philadelphia immediately, Not to mention the long-term.

Bad guy

• You can certainly blame Ben Simmons for the three fouls in the first half. After all, he is the real offender. But how to use him in that position is determined by his head coach, and Rivers decides to hand over the game to the bench and role players. When it happens it feels like a wrong estimate, as the halftime goes by. It’s worse.

“Foul trouble” is only dangerous if you allow it. Since Joel Embiid has returned to the locker room for a potential injury assessment, Simmons is absent from the game, and Mike Scott is the center, and it’s not like letting everyone play in non-Embiid’s playing time. responsible. But this is what Doc Rivers chose to do, and Washington was able to make some progress within a few minutes before halftime.

This is the way coaches always deal with it, and considering the context of the game, it feels particularly stupid.Worried about whether Simmons will appear later in the game, Rivers Guaranteed A person who usually avoids foul troubles will not be on the court.

• I would have liked to see the 76ers try a small ball look without Mike Scott to open the second half. That being said, Scott is not ultimately responsible for the 76ers’ poor decision-making and transitional defense during the opening half. Normal starters have a lot, just like they did throughout the season.

(That is to say-of course Mike Scott is not and not very good. He has not performed well at any time this season. Without him, Philadelphia must have a small performance. Unfortunately, Rivers refused To try some very small extensions in the regular season.)

• We will have to wait to see if this is a problem for the slower teams, but Dwight Howard’s commitment to offensive rebounds has caused them to be burned in conversions many times in this series. With up to four people coming back after the turnover, the 76ers are working hard to pack their bodies and prevent open layups or three-pointers when the other team speeds up their pace.

This is of course not all Howard’s fault-there are many miscommunication and mistakes between outside substitute players-but it is a side effect of his playing style.

• For Tobias Harris, this is not a good night, he will return to last season he was sometimes passive and grumpy player. Even before Embiid withdrew due to the 76ers’ so-called knee problems, Harris was already trying to find his footing against the team he had treated cruelly in all series. When Ish Smith blocked you at the basket, you know you had a difficult day in the game.

Daniel Gafford’s mission is to personally destroy Harris’ night, shut him out or make him guess shot attempts again and again. Its impact on Harris is obvious, but to be honest, it feels more profound than that-as if his passivity spread to the rest of the team, players gave up open jumpers and good shots without a leader. . Hard stretch.

However, before putting too much pressure on Harris, it is worth noting that his teammates basically asked him over and over again to rescue them from the stagnant property.Harris didn’t do so much to take advantage of him Have done To create, Smith achieved amazing success against him in isolation, but too many opportunities to watch the ball require Harris to create something from scratch.

In any case, Philadelphia really needs the best Harris on Monday night. They didn’t get anything close.

• When a team (or one person) is in trouble, the worst thing you can do is to build their confidence and think that they can still win in the battle. This is why Saturday’s third game was so important and so impressive for the 76ers-they came out to draw the Wizards and made it clear that they would not play their food, so to speak.

Unfortunately, Embiid’s end may change the series if it is really serious. Considering that he was on the court a few minutes after he fell to the ground at first, I tend to be otherwise.

• We discussed after the first game when Simmons was basically unable to touch the ball at a critical moment due to free throw issues. It has become, “Those who thought they needed more points are idiots!” More than a week after that game. But the team will use his free throw percentage, and the Wizards chose to attack Simmons in the final minutes of Monday’s game instead of defending.

The good news is-Simmons completed half of the attempt, much better than what he achieved in the series, and enough (theoretically) to prevent the team from taking this path again.If the 76ers can stop at the other end of the field, they will score one point per round can It is enough to complete it. Unfortunately, this is not the case. So you are likely to see this again, I know you are not looking forward to it.

Simmons’ failure to accumulate points in Embiid’s absence is a reason beyond his control, and these have been resolved above. This is, I can’t believe what I have to say, there is every reason to make people feel uneasy, because he still hasn’t done more to push them across the bottom line. He is a point guard with a maximum salary contract, and he carries people’s expectations. His ability to influence the game in all aspects is not an excuse for his failure to do so, and we can credibly discuss both sides of this unbearable argument at the same time.

ugly

• The only thing the 76ers need to accomplish in this game besides winning is to stay healthy.That’s in At least some danger After Joel Embiid fell in the middle of the first quarter, it frightened everyone who watched the game.

Embiid will stay in the game after a fall Have done It seems that his hips and hips fall more easily than his back, which is good news at first. But when he withdrew from the game at the end of the quarter, he had to return to the locker room, which raised questions about how much damage the fall actually caused him. The 76ers ruled him out at halftime, using “right knee soreness” as an explanation, even though his knee did not appear to be dangerous when he fell.

If Embiid do There is a serious problem, whether it is knees or other aspects, it will return him to the same position he found in the past playoffs-not 100%. This year should be different, although it may still be, but this is much greater than the loss in the fourth game.

• As if we haven’t encountered enough idiot fans in the past week or two, some Washington idiots think it’s a good idea to be on the court in the middle of the third quarter on Monday night. Fortunately, he cannot cause any damage other than the blow to his public reputation for the rest of his life. Even so, seeing a new knuckle showing their ass night after night is tiresome.

In the past 14 months or so, social activities have been restricted, which has not provided anyone with an excuse to act like a clown. If you can’t take responsibility in public, then put your butt on the couch before you mess it up.

• The referee in this game was terrible in every way. I should probably be more prepared for the possibility of entering the playoffs, because the Zebras have had a lot of difficult games throughout the season. Hard contacts were released, and offensive and defensive fouls piled up on both ends. When people think of “playoff basketball,” it’s not exactly what they think.

Follow Kyle on Twitter: @KyleNeubeck