Joel Embiid says ‘I still believe in myself and the team’ after Sixers’ bad loss at Detroit Pistons

The 76ers’ loss at Detroit Thursday — when they failed to put away a bad-but-scrappy Pistons team and then let a fourth-quarter lead slip — was arguably their worst since James Harden made his debut. Detroit was the easiest opponent remaining on the Sixers’ regular-season schedule, and the defeat dropped them to fourth place in the jumbled Eastern Conference standings with six games to play.

Coach Doc Rivers, MVP contender Joel Embiid, and starting forward Tobias Harris all acknowledged this version of the Sixers is still a work in progress with the playoffs set to begin in about two weeks. Their offensive flow is inconsistent. They have communication lapses on defense. They allowed the Pistons to score nine points off five fourth-quarter turnovers.

But Embiid added, “I still believe in myself and the team.”

“I believe that I’m always going to show up,” said Embiid, who is averaging 30 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 4.2 assists. “I believe that I’m always going to be dominant enough to try to give us a chance. And we’ve also got James, got a bunch of great teammates. That’s what I’m focused on.

“I’m focused on the talent that we have, and obviously it’s all about putting it all together.”

Embiid again referenced the 2018-19 season, when the Sixers made a midseason trade for Jimmy Butler. But that deal occurred in November, not February, and Embiid said it took until the second round of the playoffs for the Sixers to make the needed adjustment to move Butler on the ball.

“It takes a lot of time,” Embiid said, " … to figure out the right way to play, people’s roles and stuff. So with this team, everybody’s willing to get better every single day. We’re going to figure it out.”

So far, veterans DeAndre Jordan and Paul Millsap have been relatively unimpressive backup-center replacements for Andre Drummond, who was a late addition to the trade package to acquire Harden. Jordan totaled two points and one rebound and was a team-worst minus-9 in 10 minutes against the Pistons. Two nights earlier, Millsap did not score or collect a rebound and struggled to guard Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.

That has left some outsiders clamoring for Paul Reed, the athletically gifted second-year big man with the catchy “BBall Paul” nickname who was the G League’s Most Valuable Player last season.

The 6-foot-9 Reed was Embiid’s backup for two games in February, before Millsap arrived as part of the Harden trade. Then, that role primarily went to Jordan after being signed off the buyout market. Reed has not played meaningful minutes since, and on Friday was assigned to the G League’s Delaware Blue Coats. He is averaging 2.2 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 7.4 minutes in 34 games with the Sixers.

Rivers said before Thursday’s loss to Detroit that Reed still needs to work on his understanding and execution of the Sixers’ concepts, which becomes even more crucial in games with high stakes.

“That’s been an area of frustration for us [the coaches], but his teammates, too,” Rivers said. “But he’s getting it. He’s working at it. I don’t focus on the things he’s not. I always focus on the things that he does do. He’s athletic. He gets to loose balls. Those are the things he can do. The things he can’t do, we know what those are, too. …

“Is Paul Reed ready or not? We don’t know yet. But I’m not just sitting there throwing up dice and trying to figure it out. We have a whole staff watching guys every day and [doing] the evaluation. The guys we play is where we end up.”

The Sixers spent a chunk of Thursday morning’s shootaround working on breaking a press defense. That’s typically something “you would never do before a game,” Rivers said, especially this late in the season. But the Sixers had not yet worked on that much with Harden.

That captures the coach’s dilemma on how to approach the days between games — and before them — during the final stretch of the regular season. Rivers said the past couple of shootarounds have been focused more on the Sixers’ schemes than on game planning for that night’s opponent.

“If you were in a normal circumstance, you would just be working on [game planning],” Rivers said before the loss to the Pistons. “We understand that probably hurts us in the games, but we have to work on our stuff.”

Though the Sixers do not normally practice when there is only one day between games, Rivers said he is considering forgoing shootarounds in favor of those off-day group sessions next week. But whether the Sixers choose to get their work in between games or on the mornings of them, the remaining opportunities are limited.

The Sixers did not hold a formal practice Friday following their late-night travel from Detroit back to Philly. They will not have a shootaround ahead of their 12:30 p.m. Saturday game against Charlotte, or on Sunday at Cleveland on the second day of a back-to-back. Monday will be a mandatory off day following two game days in a row. They then play Tuesday at Indiana, Thursday at Toronto, April 9 at home against Indiana and April 10 at home against Detroit.

That leaves only two potential practice days and three potential shootaround days for the rest of the regular season. After that, the Sixers will get about a week off during the play-in tournaments, a “blessing” Rivers said can serve as a second training camp, of sorts.

“I actually prefer practices more [than shootarounds],” Rivers said. “But the way the schedule has broken the last couple years, it basically answers the question for you most of the time.”