March 3, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey (0) watches after the second quarter against the San Antonio Spurs at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Image The Philadelphia 76ers suffered an ugly loss on Tuesday, but they probably won’t have much time to think about the loss.
The Sixers will be right back on the court on Wednesday looking to pick up the pieces against the visiting Utah Jazz, who are dealing with a lot of issues of their own.
Philadelphia fell by as many as 49 points in a 131-91 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday. The Sixers played without Joel Embiid (oblique), Kelly Oubre Jr. (illness) and Paul George (suspension), while standout rookie VJ Edgecombe (back) sat out the second half.
“We’ve got to focus on the guys in this building,” said Tyrese Maxey, who led Philadelphia with 21 points. “These are the guys we’ll be with for the rest of the season. If we’re going to do something special, we’ve got to focus on (the players available).”
Still, the Sixers’ problems ran much deeper than player absences. The team’s field shot success rate was only 34.7% and 3-point shot success rate was only 23.8%.
While defense was the biggest problem in the second quarter as San Antonio scored 46 points, Philadelphia’s offense decreased slightly in the third quarter with 11 points.
“I thought we did a good job of finding shots,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said. “I think it took a while, and I kept saying that during timeouts. The open shots don’t come as quickly as they did last night, but we just have to be a little more patient and keep kicking out.”
Utah comes into this game looking to end a six-game losing streak. The team has given up at least 115 points in every game during that skid, including Monday’s 128-125 loss to the Denver Nuggets.
The Jazz continued to play without many of their rotation regulars, including Lauri Markkanen (hip), and will be undermanned during this three-game road trip.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the team’s effort,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said after the loss to Denver. “I thought we were very active on both sides of the ball.”
Keyonte George had 36 points for Utah. He missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer late in the contest, but still finished the game with strong shooting percentages from the field (14 of 22) and from the 3-point arc (4 of 9).
“He’s been making a lot of plays downhill,” Hardy said of George. “His reads throughout the season continue to show all the hard work he’s put in. Development isn’t just about physicality. There’s an elite understanding of what it takes to be the best player in this league.”
The Jazz are clearly in rebuild mode, but are getting extended looks at potential cornerstone pieces like George, Kyle Filipowski (19 points) and Ace Bailey (18 points).
“Coach Will even said this when he came into the locker room.” Filipowski said. “If we keep playing this hard and keep playing together, we’ll get to where we want to be in the future.”
This is the first of many meetings between the two teams this season. They are scheduled to face each other again on March 21 in Salt Lake City.
Philadelphia had a tight win over Utah a season ago.
–Field level media
