The Philadelphia 76ers’ nightmare season has seen the team officially eliminated from postseason contention.
From the very start, the writing was on the wall that the 2024-25 season would not go as planned for the Philadelphia 76ers.
More recently, it became clear the 76ers were giving up. Joel Embiid was officially ruled out for the rest of the season after playing for just 19 games and going in and out of the team’s lineup. He could have to undertake another surgery this upcoming offseason.
Paul George followed Embiid in the team’s embattled injury situation. The big free agency signing failed to live up to the expectations. He was later deactivated as well, ending his hopes for a late-season push.
With their 118-95 loss against the Miami Heat this March 29, the 76ers fall to 23-51, effectively ending their hopes for a 2025 Playoff appearance.
And in his postgame presser, head coach Nick Nurse spoke about what went wrong for his Philly team for this year.
“Obviously it’s not anywhere near where we had hoped it would be when we set out this summer and this fall, that’s for sure” Nurse said. “That’s the only thing you can say, it was a super struggle.
“You know, most of the way, I think there was only a couple times of some momentum. Right?
“December, and there was another I think four- or five-game winning streak in there, too, where you were always holding out hope that the team was playing better and getting some wins and hopefully get some players back.”
“I’ve said this numerous times, it just didn’t seem like the the injury bug would ever, ever leave us.
“It just seemed like every time we have a good game and get a win or something, it cost us a player or two for the next one.
“We could never just really build any momentum. So obviously, super, super disappointing. Not where we want to be at all. That’s about it.”
Beyond Embiid and George, several other 76ers players endured injuries. Tyrese Maxey, who took a big step forward with his game, only appeared for 52 games.
After creating hype as an early favorite to win the Rookie of the Year award, Jared McCain went down with a meniscus injury that cutshis sparkling first season short in December.
From generating hype and expectations as a projected championship heavyweight last summer, the 76ers slowly crumbled.
This marks the first time since 2016-17 that Philadelphia won’t be in the NBA’s Playoff arena. Nevertheless, the Sixers are still determined to conclude the season on a high note with Quentin Grimes taking in-charge.
“It’s tough, but coming in, they had a lot of injuries,” Grimes said, who has been on a sizzling roll since joining Philly from the previous midseason trade.
“Looking back on everything with Joel, Tyrese, and PG, it’s a tough season kinda coming into everything so looking back on it, try to just get everybody healthy for next season and stuff like that.
“We got eight games. Really just try to sharpen things up.”
With an aspired healthy and rejuvenating offseason ahead, the 76ers have their fingers crossed that next season would offer something better for them.
