The Sixers still haven’t figured out their bad third quarters: ‘Something’s got to give’

Tyrese Maxey opened the third quarter by missing a 17-foot step-back jumper. Thirty-seven seconds later, Joel Embiid missed a 26-foot three-pointer. Dominick Barlow got his hand on the ball, only to miss the tip-in. Paul George scored the 76ers’ first points of the second half, 15 seconds after that, on a 24-foot three-pointer.

The sense of relief didn’t last long, as the Sixers missed 11 of their next 15 shots.

Over the opening 8 minutes, 13 seconds of the quarter, the Sixers shot 26.3% Sunday in a 112-108 home loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

None of this was surprising, as third-quarter woes have become a consistent problem.

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“I think for us, we just have to find a way to come out with the same energy we finished the [second] quarter with,” Andre Drummond said.

Drummond doesn’t know if that means the Sixers (13-10) must start coming out of the locker room early to get in the layup line to get their bodies moving.

“Or whatever it may be to come out with the same juice,” he said. “But … it’s becoming repetitive for coming out the same way every third quarter, time and time again. So at some point in time, something’s got to give.”

Drummond was correct about the Sixers having a solid second quarter, which gave them a 60-53 lead at intermission. However, that turned into a 10-point deficit with 1:40 left in the third quarter. As they’ve done many nights before, the Sixers followed that poor quarter with an electric fourth to get back in the game.

“We’ve kind of said this before, but I’d rather be a good fourth-quarter team than a good third-quarter team,” coach Nick Nurse said. “But we have to take a look at some of these things and see if we can get them fixed.”

The coaching staff has tried to figure it out.

The Sixers started the second half with different lineups and switched defensive coverages. Like Drummond, others have suggested that the Sixers’ most significant issue is not matching the intensity they played with before intermission.

But a significant problem in the third quarter is that, on some nights, the ball stops moving. That leads to the Sixers taking poor shots, which allows opponents to get out in transition on their misses. It’s a fixable problem. The Sixers need to designate someone to navigate the offense through those rough patches.

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Maxey has tried to provide that. But as the league’s third-leading scorer at 31.5 points per game, he has drawn increased interest and someone needs to free him up to get open shots.

As the team’s lone traditional point guard, Kyle Lowry would be the perfect candidate on paper. However, Lowry, who’s in his 20th NBA season, turns 40 on March 25. At this stage of his career, the six-time All-Star and future Hall of Famer is in more of a mentor and unofficial player-coach role than in-game savior.

The Sixers could designate George to assume that role as a point forward. Or they could try to add a traditional veteran point guard via a trade.

But they need to figure out something soon, as their schedule is about to get tougher: Only four of their 13 victories have come against teams with winning records. They defeated the Boston Celtics twice and beat the Orlando Magic and Toronto Raptors. The Celtics (15-9) are third in the Eastern Conference standings, followed by the fourth-place Raptors (15-10) and fifth-place Magic (14-10).

After hosting the struggling Indiana Pacers on Friday, the Sixers have consecutive road games against the 14-11 Atlanta Hawks (Sunday) and the 16-7 New York Knicks (Dec. 19). Their following 14 games will include matchups against the Oklahoma City Thunder (23-1), a rematch with the Knicks, a contest with the Denver Nuggets (17-6), another game vs. the Magic, and two games each against the Raptors and Cleveland Cavaliers (14-11).

The Sixers know they’ll have to play solid for four quarters to beat those squads. Maxey has considered taking it upon himself to give the Sixers an extra lift.

“Me and Joel have talked about it,” Maxey said. “He told me to be more aggressive coming out in third quarters. Usually, I come out and I’m trying to get my teammates involved. But Joel told me that he wants me to go out and get right to it. I didn’t do enough of that [Sunday], and I should have.”