When it comes to the rotation, the Sixers have a bigs problem

When the Sixers found themselves down by as many as 11 points in the fourth quarter on Thursday to the lowly Sacramento Kings, coach Nick Nurse made the obvious move of calling Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey off the bench to save the day. The pair did just that, combining not only to score the team's final 21 points, but also executing a final side out of bounds play that had Embiid hitting a sprinting Maxey for the game-winning layup with 1.3 seconds to play for the come-from-behind win.

Maxey finished with 40 points and Embiid 37, which carried the Sixers to their 26th win of the season against 21 losses and gave them back-to-back wins at the Xfinity Mobile Arena, something they hadn't done since early December.

A win is a win, as coach Nick Nurse and the players said repeatedly following the contest. But the heroics and domination by Maxey and Embiid somewhat just masked what is a pretty big problem with the team right now, and that is the play of their bigs, particularly when it comes to rebounding.

The Kings (12-37, and losers of seven straight) crushed the Sixers on the backboards throughout the night, finishing with a 55-28 advantage, including 15-2 at the offensive end. When the Sixers starters are in the game, they can pretty much overcome slight rebounding deficits because of the offense those players can produce. But once Embiid leaves the game, it gets really dicey.

Nurse has made it clear of late that second-year big man Adem Bona is the backup to Embiid. When Embiid hits the bench, the center spot is Bona's. It's as simple as that.

Only, it isn't that simple. For as active as Bona is with his shot-blocking and ability to get high in the air to flush the many lobs that his teammates throw him, he simply can't be the answer as the backup to Embiid. While his aggressiveness is something a coach doesn't want to take away, it also hurts him, and the team.

Bona's main mindset at the defensive is to block anything and everything that comes into the lane. Sometimes it leads to just that, but more times than not it takes him out of position to do anything else. If he leaves his man to go make a block and doesn't get it, the offensive rebound is often gotten. And there seem to be plenty of those when he's in the game. His want to show off his tremendous athletic ability also bites him sometimes with his fouling jump shooters and hacking bigs who are dribbling the ball 25 feet from the basket.

Nurse tried, but the Bona experiment as Embiid's backup probably has to come to an end and be handed over to veteran Andre Drummond.  

"I think that the smaller lineup we're playing is, obviously, something to look at," said Nurse following the win. "I think Drummond, with really big centers like that, they play big all night and they're all physical, they play physical. It probably called for a Joel, Bona lineup or a Drummond, (Jabari) Walker. Just maybe something different than we did tonight because it was difficult to rebound. I just didn't like our defensive mentality and our rebounding mentality. I think it really let them hang around. It wasn't a great game by us. We'll take it."

And rebounding is certainly something that isn't difficult for Drummond, who is one of the best in the league at it.

"We're undersized. It's no secret, we're undersized," said Paul George. "Myself and Kelly (Oubre, Jr.) are. Outside of Jo, our bigs in the starting lineup, especially with (opposing) lineups like tonight when you're going against two bigs, it's going to be a challenge. But we've got to be scrappy. It's going to take all of us to kind of go out and win the rebounding battle."

This isn't to say there isn't a spot for Bona in the rotation. An energetic big with his athleticism is always something any team can use, just not the way it's been used lately. Perhaps he gets some time at the four spot when Embiid is in the game, or at the same spot with the second unit when Drummond is manning the middle. Again, it's something Nurse has to figure out moving forward.

EXCITING SATURDAY

Familiar faces will be back in the arena on Saturday when the Sixers host the New Orleans Pelicans as the 2000-01 team that made a spectacular run to the NBA Finals will be honored. As much as fans get a thrill at seeing Allen Iverson at a game, so do the current players and coaches.

"It will be great," said George. "Being a part of the Sixers family, the organization, that group means a lot to this city. So, it will be awesome to share the space of the moment and play in front of them. We want to represent them the same way that they represented the city."