PHOENIX – In a season full of expectations but derailed and losing a bit of the plot in just six games, the Philadelphia 76ers certainly needed some positive energy Monday night.

So here’s a positive: the Sixers got Paul George in uniform and they looked like a real live basketball team against the Phoenix Suns.

As has been the result five times this young regular season, the Sixers came up short. They let Kevin Durant take over a game they seemingly won, and they fell to 1-5 with a 118-116 loss. They led by nine points with five minutes left, so this was a game the Sixers should have found a way to close out.

But when George made his 76ers debut after missing the first five games with a left knee contusion, the Sixers finally fielded a dynamic offense. They looked good and played well, despite a loss that would be difficult to swallow under most circumstances. That’s why the mood in the locker room after the match was positive. This Philadelphia team has suffered a season’s worth of setbacks in just a few weeks, from the unavailability of George and star center Joel Embiid to the questions that came with it, including Saturday night’s incident between Embiid and a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter. And now there’s the NBA investigation into the incident, making Embiid’s status even more uncertain.

And that’s just outside the court.

On the floor, the Sixers looked clunky offensively. Young star Tyrese Maxey has been given too much responsibility to create for himself and others. The role players have had to play way outside their roles. Offense has been a chore. So George, finally healthy and able to play, moved the Sixers closer to who they thought they would look like this season on Monday night. Sure, it ended in a loss. But now the team can focus on improving the little things on the margins. George handles many of the big issues.

“He takes a lot of the pressure off all of us,” Maxey said The Athletics. “With him on the ground you can see it. We are much more balanced. I didn’t have to do much, so I was a lot fresher. It helps us all to have him back.”

George didn’t play particularly well on Monday night. Most importantly, he didn’t realize the 76ers were down two points on the final possession. He thought the Sixers were down by one point, so he nailed a contested 20-foot jumper in the waning seconds. Had he realized the score, he would have taken a 3-pointer, make or miss, for the win. That’s a mental mistake that can’t happen to someone with George’s talent and experience.

He shot just 4-of-14 from the field and turned the ball over seven times. But that’s usually the product of rust. That happens when you don’t play basketball under playing conditions for a long time. When the Sixers needed a few made shots to close out the game, Paul didn’t score in the fourth quarter.

But he came out healthy on Monday night. There were no setbacks. There were no ill effects in the locker room. He’s ready for the remainder of a three-game road trip, with a game on Wednesday night against his old team, the Los Angeles Clippers.

“I’ll watch the film of the match and then I can recover normally,” George said. “I felt great. My wind and my condition were better than expected. There were times when I was tired. There were times when I was gassed. But I wanted to play through it because I wanted to build up my stamina. I wasn’t supposed to play 31 minutes, but I wanted to play 31 minutes, if you know what I mean.”

the PG8 era has begun! @voordemensen pic.twitter.com/AX7rFLnObv

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) November 5, 2024

The shooting will come for George, one of the most skilled players in the game. But even with the rust, you could see what his presence did to the rest of the Sixers. It gave Maxey the freedom to focus on creating for himself without the burden of the whole offense. With George, the 76ers were better than ever this season. With George, the Sixers were a bigger team, especially on the perimeter. And with George, the Sixers could attack Phoenix’s defense from multiple angles on the floor. Shots for the role players were a lot less contested. Attacking became easier.

Monday night marked the first time this season that the Sixers scored as many as 110 points in regulation. (They scored 118 points in overtime against the Indiana Pacers in their only win.) They made 20 3s, they played fast, they had 27 assists. George’s gravitas and ability to create a basketball advantage helped in all of these areas.

“I think there were definitely real positives,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said. “I think one of the biggest ones is we had 27 assists. That’s a big number for us so far this season. So you can see what adding one dynamic creator to our attack does. A lot is changing for us. There’s a lot more room to move the ball, and there’s a lot more opportunities for the guys on the floor. There are a lot more opportunities for open shots and to move the basketball, and I thought the guys did a really good job of that.”

A loss is still a loss. Only the Milwaukee Bucks have gotten off to a worse start in the Eastern Conference than Philadelphia. But it bodes well that the Sixers were in a position to beat a very good Phoenix team on the road. How much does that mean? It will become tangible if the Sixers come away with some wins. Keep in mind that the Sixers still don’t know how long they’ll be without Embiid.

He has accompanied the team on their current road trip through the Western Conference. He was at the shooting and in good spirits. But the league’s investigation into Saturday night’s incident involving Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes has yet to be completed. And Embiid’s rise to playing has been slow. Unless some sort of league penalty is imposed, the Sixers are not ruling Embiid out for this trip. But there is no definitive answer as to when he will be available.

So Monday night’s team? That could be the team for now. Clearly, with all three of their stars available, the Sixers still project as a dynamic roster. But the wins have to start coming. Even in an 82-game season, Philadelphia must avoid digging too many holes for itself.

So the Sixers celebrate George’s debut. They saw how much better his inclusion in the lineup made the roster look.

“We’re not worried,” Maxey said. “We just know we have to be better as the games go on. The most important thing is that we have Paul back, and having him back helps us all.”

(Photo of Paul George being defended by Jusuf Nurkic and Devin Booker: Joe Camporeale / Imagn Images)