Philly booed James Harden, but the 76ers will only be cheered by Joel Embiid's return

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PHILADELPHIA — The booing was a little flabby Wednesday, as if the fans at Wells Fargo Arena had other things on their mind.

The jeering was robust enough at the beginning, but by night's end, the wrath unleashed on James Harden sounded more like a chore to be completed than a deeply held belief. Yes, the crowd booed Harden every time he touched the ball in a gut-wrenching 108-107 Philadelphia 76ers loss to Harden's LA Clippers, with last-second controversies galore.

But honestly, the crowd was louder when L.A.'s Norman Powell missed two free throws with 9:37 left, ensuring the sellout crowd free Chick-fil-A. And the greater vitriol was unleashed, by Philly's Kelly Oubre Jr. and Sixers coach Nick Nurse, after the refs swallowed their whistles and didn't call a foul on Paul George after Oubre drove into George's chest and drew contact as the final buzzer sounded, a non-call the refs acknowledged they'd blown in a postgame pool report.

And yet there was Tyrese Maxey, smiling afterward, as he often is, retelling how he'd fouled Harden as Harden made a 3 and how Harden, also smiling, accused him of trying to "hurt" his former teammate and mentor.

Maxey isn't that type of dude. But make no mistake: Maxey and the Sixers badly wanted to beat Harden. They might have liked him individually, liked him a lot as a teammate. But the soap opera he put them and the franchise through all last offseason and into training camp ground on everyone. Especially for a city and franchise desperate, as we all know, to get out of the second round and make something of Joel Embiid's prime. Harden was supposed to be the final piece. Instead, he brought no peace. And this was his first time back in the Illadelph since the trade.

not in this house. ❌ pic.twitter.com/45urRQ6FsN

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) March 28, 2024

"I don't expect it to be too pretty," former Sixer and now Clipper P.J. Tucker said before the game.

The end of the game was certainly not. The Sixers were hot about successive and-1s that Kawhi Leonard got. The second, with 15.7 seconds remaining, gave the Clippers a 1-point lead. Then, Oubre drove the paint, hard, drew contact from George and got nothing. And verbally detonated.

"We're not perfect. The refs aren't perfect," Oubre said. "I want to apologize for just losing my cool because that's something I work on each and every day, try to represent God in the best way I possibly can, and that wasn't it. I just ask for forgiveness.

"But I saw coach Nurse getting riled up. If our coach is going to fight for us and he's going there, I'm right behind him. But at the end of the day, it wasn't cool. So I'll take whatever penalties come with that. We have to move on. But I have to be better, in a sense."

But Philly has bigger issues. The Sixers are now 10-17 since Embiid's knee injury at the end of January. They've fallen to eighth place in the East. Now there's a good cushion between them and the ninth-place Chicago Bulls, so if Philadelphia has to play in the Play-In round, the matchup with the Bulls or Atlanta Hawks would be here. It would help immensely if Embiid, whom Nurse said has a pretty good chance of playing again before the end of the regular season, could get a few games under his belt. But it would be much better for the Sixers to catch the sixth-place Indiana Pacers, now a game and a half ahead of them, and avoid that Play-In roulette wheel altogether.

"Honestly, it was that (to avoid the Play-In)," Oubre said. "You can try to forward think. But the goal (now) is win each and every game that we step on the court and play. It doesn't matter about anything, about any other team. It's about us right now. Staying together as a group and keeping our confidence."

The irony about this season's Sixers is that, as a group, they've never played in a postseason together. So you have no idea what they'll do. On the other hand, they have a lot of individuals who've had incredible success. Nurse and Kyle Lowry won a 'ship together in Toronto in 2019. Nicolas Batum, who came to the 76ers as part of the Harden trade, has played in 63 postseason games in eight seasons. Backup guard Cameron Payne has 53 career playoff games under his belt.

"We've got a lot of guys with experience, and then we've got a championship coach who just won a championship recently," Maxey said. "Kyle Lowry was just in the finals last season (with Miami), and he's been to Eastern Conference finals, and he's won one as well. So to have championship pedigree on our team, for some guys — me, Jo, Tobias (Harris), we've all been to the second round.

"So it's like, to have that and to be able to go out here, we're going to have to go out there and fight. We know what it's going to be like. We know how difficult it is to win games (in the playoffs). Every single possession matters. And I feel like that's what the guys that's been in the postseason and the guys who've been in the championship, who've won championships, are going to go out there and display."

But it's Maxey, the newly minted All-Star, who has to show he's ready for an enhanced postseason assignment, no matter what version of Embiid shows up for the playoffs. He knows it. Everyone knows it.

He was terrific again Wednesday with 26 points and eight assists. He never forced shots, and he moved the ball when the Clippers sent multiple defenders his way. But he also blew a tire at a key moment with Philly up 104-101 with 1:01 left. Maxey, all alone in the backcourt, tripped and fell as Batum threw him an inbounds pass. The ball was intercepted by L.A.'s Amir Coffey, who made one of two free throws to bring the Clippers within 2.

Just as Harden took Maxey under his wing, so too is Lowry.

"I'm just trying to be there for him," Lowry said. "I'm trying to be the veteran guy, the veteran presence, to make sure he understands the things I see, things that I know he can do. And just constantly talking to him. Great kid. Unbelievable kid. Once he figures it all the way out, he'll be really good."

There have been some encouraging signs of late. The Sixers are in the top half of the league (13th) in Defensive Rating this month after cratering in February, when they were 28th in the first weeks without Embiid. Gradually, the defensive breakdowns have lessened and players have been in the right places more often than not. Mo Bamba has given the Sixers some decent minutes of late in the middle. There are all those pieces and a coach who wasn't afraid to throw a box-and-1 at Stephen Curry with a ring on the line.

But all of that is offstage drama. Embiid is still the star of the show, and the rest of the cast can't fall into place until the leading man returns.

Philly booed James Harden, but the 76ers will only be cheered by Joel Embiid's return

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