A tough puzzle

Rivers understands challenge to win without Embiid

MILWAUKEE — When Doc Rivers arrived as the 76ers’ coach in 2020, he immediately noticed their poor record while playing without Joel Embiid.

Considering the superstar center’s already significant health problems, Rivers made it a priority to solve that puzzle. And he largely achieved that goal, as the Sixers went 11-5 during the regular season (and 2-0 during the playoffs) last season without the eventual NBA Most Valuable Player.

So Rivers can understand the challenge now facing first-year Sixers coach Nick Nurse, who has not immediately replicated the same success despite his reputation as a creative tactician.

Thursday’s 114-105 loss to the Bucks — the team Rivers now coaches — dropped the Sixers to 10-22 without Embiid this season, prompting their tumble from third place to seventh in the competitive Eastern Conference standings. Yet All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey believes Thursday’s performance — when the Sixers’ aggressive style yielded a 10-point fourth-quarter lead, on the road against a Milwaukee team now in second place in the East, before they faltered down the stretch — was another step toward finding their identity without their superstar still recovering from knee surgery.

“I think we’re pretty close,” said Maxey, who scored 30 points Thursday. “That game, we played 3½ really good quarters. … Coach Nurse and [the staff ], they’re really implementing a good system for when the big fella’s out. And I think the guys are buying into it.”

Nurse is known to experiment with rosters and schemes. A matchup against the Bucks reminded that he is credited with devising the build-a-wall blueprint against bulldozing two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. Nurse also threw out a box-and-1 defense against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. And he turned a roster full of like-size Toronto Raptors into a playoff team, pushing the Sixers to six games two seasons ago.

“He’s very adaptive at making decisions on the fly and figuring things out,” said veteran guard Kyle Lowry, who has reunited with Nurse in Philly after playing for him in Toronto, “which is why he’s one of the best coaches out there.”

Yet Rivers said prior to Thursday’s game that Embiid and Denver Nuggets two-time MVP Nikola Jokic might be the league’s only current players who, when they miss games, “you have to play almost completely different.”

Embiid was on pace to again lead the NBA in scoring (35.3 points per game), fueled by an automatic mid-range jumper, forceful frame, and ability to operate with the ball in his hands in the middle of the floor. But he also had continued to progress as a facilitator, averaging a career-best 5.7 assists for one of the NBA’s most efficient offenses. And he is an intimidating defensive anchor.

It’s also unfair to directly compare the Sixers’ roster constructions under Rivers and Nurse.

Rivers had the All-Star, pre-holdout (and pre-back injury) version of Ben Simmons in his first season. For part of his second and all of his third seasons, Rivers had James Harden — who was in decline but still an All-Star-caliber player — along with an emerging Maxey.

Though Maxey made the All-Star leap this season by averaging 25.9 points and 6.2 assists per game, that opposing defenses now make him the focal point is still a relatively new experience. Tobias Harris, meanwhile, has been inconsistent-to-poor as a second option. And while this team boasts depth, it has also been hit with a bevy of injuries that have prevented rotation continuity throughout the season under a first-year coaching staff.