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PHILADELPHIA — In the first game of the season, Joel Embiid missed five of six three-point attempts and turned the ball over five times.
In the second game, a 90-88 loss Thursday night to the Milwaukee Bucks, he missed 15 of his 21 shots, including two of three from deep, and committed four turnovers.
Since the Sixers’ center has mentioned that he occasionally still feels a sting from an offseason surgery that reattached his right thumb to his hand, could it be that his early-season sloppiness is connected to the situation?
“I don’t know,” Doc Rivers said. “I don’t think so, honestly. I had the same injury. It affects you for a long time, I will say that, especially if it gets hit. It’s still raw nerves. So you can imagine how that feels if anyone touches it or hits it.”
Embiid did score 15 points, collect 12 rebounds and play 36:09 Thursday, after a 26-point performance in Game 1 at Boston. And turnovers are nothing new to his repertoire. But Rivers will keep his finger on that situation.
As long as the word is out that Embiid feels a jolt whenever his thumb is banged, the odd NBA player just might have some untoward ideas, though.
“I’m assuming it gets hit every game,” Rivers said. “At least in our day he would have. But you’re not ‘injured.’ It’s just painful. I thought a lot of our turnovers in that first game, Joel included, were just sloppy and they just laid it in. So we have to be better with the ball.”
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The Sixers made a three-year commitment to P.J. Tucker for his toughness. Mike Budenholzer, who coached Tucker when Milwaukee won the 2021 NBA championship, wouldn’t quarrel.
“There’s a lot of things he brings to the table,” Budenholzer said. “But his competitive spirit and his toughness are unique and very, very special. You know he’s a high-level defender who loves to take the toughest matchup every night. He takes a lot of pride and is a great communicator in defense. But he brings a toughness to your team and that’s important.”
Tucker played 39:11 at multiple positions Thursday and battled to help limit Giannis Antetokounmpo to 21 points, but Tucker scored just five points.
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James Harden scored from almost everywhere on the floor, finishing with 31 tough points. But his decent-look fade-away on the Sixers’ final possession kicked wide.
“It wasn’t a great look, but it was a good look,” he said. “It could have been better.”
When it failed, the Bucks were in business to drop the Sixers to 0-2.
“It’s a long year,” Harden said. “We just have to get locked in and be more engaged.”
• • •
In his 13th season, former Sixers first-round draft choice Jrue Holiday continues to be one of the most complete point guards in the NBA.
“Oh, I wish I could have done as well as him,” Rivers said. “I’m not saying this because this is Philadelphia, but he reminds me a lot of Maurice Cheeks. They both do something that very few guards do: They make shots in the middle of a game that you don’t even notice. They both have this ability to stop runs.
“Maurice Cheeks could have eight points in a game, and you would think those were the most important eight points of the game. The team is on a 6-0 run and Cheeks would come down, pull up and make a jump shot, then go back to going about his business of moving the ball around. Jrue senses the game in a very similar way. And I don’t know if there is another guard who is a better defensive player than him. I would not want to see him every night.”
Holiday sputtered Thursday, shooting 2-for-15.
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NOTES >> The injury-free Sixers scratched Julian Champagnie and Michael Foster. … The Bucks were without Kris Middleton (wrist), Pat Connaughton (calf) and Joe Ingles (knee).
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