Sixers are letting close games slip away, and it is costing them in the East standings: ‘Those hurt’

Tyrese Maxey could easily begin rattling off several games that the 76ers had already let slip away this season.

Both visits to the Chicago Bulls. Both contests against the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons, including a Nov. 14 trip they led in the fourth quarter. Two games against the Toronto Raptors, a potential first-round playoff opponent.

That barely scratched the past 12 days. The Sixers on Jan. 5 lost in overtime to a Denver Nuggets team that intentionally rested the bulk of its rotation. Then, last Sunday, they surrendered a four-point lead with 20 seconds remaining in regulation in Toronto before falling in overtime. Then came Friday night, when the Sixers blew an 11-point fourth-quarter lead against the Cleveland Cavaliers in a 117-115 defeat at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

And in the bunched-up Eastern Conference standings — where three games separated second place from seventh entering Saturday — Maxey acknowledged “those hurt.”

“We’ve had plenty of them,” the star point guard added. “ … But it’s OK. You’ve got to keep going. We’ve got 42 more games, so can’t dwell on it.”

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The consequence of such late collapses was immediately clear late Friday, when the 22-18 Sixers dropped from fifth place to seventh. They also are quite acquainted with down-to-the-wire scenarios, entering Saturday tied for third in the NBA with 25 “clutch” games played, which is classified as a game with the scoring margin at five points or less with five minutes remaining in regulation.

Recent results, though, have shifted from the early season, when part of this team’s resurgent charm was its knack for flipping poor third quarters into valiant comebacks. Their three consecutive clutch defeats have dropped their record to 13-12 in such games, which partially mirrors a perplexingly average 10-11 home record.

“It kind of evens out a lot over the year,” coach Nick Nurse said after Friday’s game. “I thought we were really great early, and I think we’ve got to get a little bit better right now at it.”

The Sixers entering Saturday ranked sixth in the NBA in defensive rating in those clutch minutes (101.2 points allowed per 100 possessions), but 17th in offensive rating (109.7 points per 100 possessions). Standout veterans Joel Embiid and Paul George both attribute those offensive sputters to execution woes, particularly while still gaining rhythm with a finally healthy roster.

“We just need to be organized,” Embiid said after Friday’s game, “and, I guess, keep running the same plays that are working.”

Added George: “We’ve got to probably drill it a little bit more. We’re out there together. We kind of know where we’re at. What we’re doing. What we’re running. What sets can we get into? Because the fact of the matter is they’re not going to make it easy for us.”

That starts with Maxey, the NBA’s third-leading scorer who will have the ball in his hands in crunch time.

He was self-critical after missing potential game-winners at the end of regulation and overtime against Denver, noting he should have been more demonstrative in directing teammates and where he wanted the ball. He believed he and the Sixers had improved in that regard in their first matchup in Toronto, when he ripped off seven consecutive points — including what could have been a game-clinching deep shot — before the Sixers botched an inbounds pass. Friday night, Maxey shook loose for a game-tying floater with 8.1 seconds remaining before Evan Mobley’s winning dunk, but had been physically guarded throughout a 9-for-23 shooting night.

“Just not good enough down the stretch,” Nurse said of Maxey and the offense, “with either making a shot or getting a good enough one.”

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During the final 3:53 — when Cleveland staged a 13-4 run to close the gap and seize the lead — the Sixers missed four out of their five shot attempts that came from Maxey, George, Embiid, and Kelly Oubre Jr. That put the Sixers’ defense “in scramble mode” on defense, Nurse said, whenever the Cavaliers turned missed shots or turnovers into transition opportunities. Maxey also emphasized an uptick in “broken plays,” such as loose balls and rebounds that the Sixers have not secured frequently enough in those crucial late minutes.

“Those come back to bite you,” Maxey said.

This was a rare week for the Sixers to play two consecutive games apiece against the Cleveland and Toronto, who also are in the thick of those muddled East standings. The Sixers are now 0-3 against the Cavaliers, officially losing the tiebreaker before a final meeting in March in Cleveland. They have finished the regular-season series against the Raptors, 2-2.

The positives? The Sixers have clinched a 2-1 tiebreaker against the Orlando Magic, who they play only three times in the regular season. And they hold a 2-1 lead over the Celtics before their final matchup in March in Boston, and 2-0 lead over the New York Knicks ahead of two home games next weekend and just before the All-Star break.

Maxey enthusiastically clapped when asked earlier this season about his team’s abundance of close games, believing they would hold long-term benefits. Nurse added that, whenever he is asked about this topic at coaching conventions, he stresses that defensive execution is “equally important — maybe more” than offensive execution.

“And then, like anything else,” Nurse said, “it takes some work. It takes some repetition. It takes some focus. And then it takes belief.”

The past 12 days have demonstrated that the Sixers still have room to grow in those areas. Because they let three consecutive clutch games slip away, which caused them to slip down the crowded East standings.

“We’ve got to close games,” Embiid said, “and we’ve had a lot of games that [we] probably wish we could take it back.”