ORLANDO, Fla. — Joel Embiid patted his chest as he spoke in the visitors’ locker room at Kia Arena Friday night, indicating his lungs felt pretty good after playing 33 minutes in his second game of the season 2024-25.

His legs? Not so much, Embiid said, which makes shot after shot seem to fail.

The 76ers superstar added that it usually takes him between two and four games to get back into shape after a prolonged injury absence. That’s part of the reason he and his teammates insist they didn’t mentally go into panic mode after their 98-86 defeat against the Magic only to fall to an incredibly terrible 2-10 to start the season. Yet there is also a rapidly diminishing margin for error, both within each game and, now, for this entire season which, more cynical spectators would say, is already slipping away.

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“It’s obviously frustrating,” Paul George said after shooting 4 of 15 against the Magic. “No one here is happy or agrees with the start of the season. …But the season is long. This isn’t what we expected when we got together, but I hope this step happens now (rather than in the middle of the season).

“We have nothing else (to do) but work harder and stay calm. By taking care of everyone in this locker room, we are all in this together.

The big caveat for the first 25 days of the regular season is that the Sixers always I didn’t play a single second with All-Stars Embiid, George and Tyrese Maxey on the court together. They also didn’t play a second with Embiid and Maxey, who transformed last season into one of the most dangerous offensive tandems in the NBA. They won just two games each with Embiid-George and George-Maxey, with unconventional rotations due to minutes restrictions for one or both players.

That the Sixers struggled under such circumstances is not surprising. What is concerning, however, is that they were already planning to navigate a less extreme version of this system, with Embiid slated for a season-long management program on his surgically repaired knee and the other 30-year-olds on the roster, like George and point guard Kyle Lowry, are expected to be occasionally sidelined.

So far, these Sixers — who also have a slew of complementary newcomers still finding their way — have been unable to tread water. They did not win a single match in regulation time. They entered Saturday with the league’s least efficient offense, scoring 105.7 points per 100 possessions, and ranked 19th in defensive efficiency, with 113.9 points allowed per 100 possessions. Their net rating of minus-8.1 was 28th in the league, ahead of only the tanks of the Washington Wizards and Utah Jazz and the also injured New Orleans Pelicans.

Coach Nick Nurse lamented Friday that his team played “over 30 very good minutes, then 14 very bad” against the Magic. During that poor stretch, Nurse called the offense disorganized and unable to create enough good shots.

“Your worst minutes need to be closer to average,” Nurse said. “And tonight, they weren’t.”

Embiid added: “It’s going to take a while to get everyone on the same page. Just what we need to do offensively, when I have the ball or when someone has the ball, where we need to cut, where we need to be, just being together.

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Another perhaps unexpected warning? Besides the 14-0 Cleveland Cavaliers and the defending champion Boston Celtics, the Eastern Conference has been full of disappointing teams. The Milwaukee Bucks, who also entered this season with contender aspirations, are 4-8 with a much healthier roster than the Sixers. Only three teams in the conference are above .500. One of them is the Magic, who already overcame a five-game losing streak before winning five in a row.

Plus, a 2-10 record early in the season may seem more shocking than a slump during the midseason slump. But even though the players on this veteran team have plenty of experience in tough times, Lowry acknowledged Friday morning that he’s never been through anything like the Sixers’ current job. The nurse also couldn’t immediately point to a similar situation when asked earlier this week.

Next, the Sixers have two days to prepare for Monday’s game against the Miami Heat, whose 5-6 record puts them in sixth place in the East as of Saturday. And while there’s no substitution for game reps, veteran wing Kelly Oubre Jr. said obvious steps like communication, film study and maintaining a positive mindset positive will be vital in these “difficult times”. Rookie guard Jared McCain, perhaps the only consistent bright spot in a terrible start, noted that Friday’s quiet locker room was due to his team’s collective calm, not discouragement.

“Give yourself the grace that we’re going to live through a time like this, but we’re going to get back to it,” he said. “I just learn from them and I know everything will be okay.”

The Sixers are therefore not yet in panic mode. But as losses pile up, the sense of urgency naturally increases.

“We have to dig in and get to work,” Nurse said, reiterating his postgame message to his team. “We really have to take the execution side of the offense seriously, right? And we need to figure out when we can do that. …

“It’s not easy with a whole bunch of new guys, and guys coming in and out, obviously. But this is where we are, so we have to work on it, for sure.