Coaching the Sixers this season has been like driving a different way to work every day, looking for the fastest route.
Sometimes it seems to be found, other times there are roadblocks and once in a while it's just a lost cause.
Nick Nurse has been through the gamut with the team this year, with the usual plethora of injuries, a 25-game suspension due to anti-drug violation and a head-scratching trade of a young talent.
Instead of being in a coaching groove where the same starters are penciled in on a nightly basis and the substitution rotation rarely waivers, Nurse has been trying to piece together anything he can with whatever players are available to him.
Another example will be presented on Saturday in Atlanta. Center Joel Embiid will be out at least another week with a right oblique strain and now rookie guard VJ Edgecombe is doubtful with a bruised back. Paul George continues to serve his suspension and Jared McCain has settled in nicely at his new home in Oklahoma City.
At 34-28, the Sixers are now tied for the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference with the Miami Heat and just a half game ahead of the Orlando Magic. Atlanta stands two and a half games behind the Sixers.
The 76ers have been settled in that sixth spot for quite some time now, but the hope of climbing the seeding ladder in the East has now morphed into the reality of just hanging on to not have to play in the NBA's play-in tournament.
"Every game is super important to pick off some wins here and there," said Nurse, following Friday's practice. "There's nothing really extra on this one other than we're playing each other and a team that's fairly close to us. They've already got the season series so there's no level to add to that. They've been a tough team for us to play. We lost two buzzer beaters early and then they took care of us pretty good.
"They're playing great right now. All their new guys they've got in have kind of got kicked in. They're playing super fast and loose and just a lot of guys, a lot of shooting. (It's) just a lot different. They were kind of all the same size, switchable, still very tough early in the year. Now they're a little bit more guard-powered to go along with those wings."
In other words, the Hawks have an identity.
After early season roster shakeups, Atlanta has found themselves and it's equaled wins in its past five games and in six of its past seven.
Meanwhile, the Sixers probably couldn't even pick themselves out of a lineup at a police station due to their ever-changing looks. It has created a rather unique way for Nurse to approach each game.
You may be joking but at this point Nick Nurse should do this pic.twitter.com/MgSrxf2AAE
"The answer is we've got to try to treat each game as a new opportunity," he said. "The matchups and who we play will affect maybe how we look or how we play. We really got to play every day as a fresh one. There's more of an example than this week. We do have to brush off a win, brush off a loss and get ready to try to do the best we can. I just think that, from our standpoint, we're still trying to do a lot of the stuff that we're trying to do. A lot of the stuff that we're trying to do, is some of it getting done as high a level as it was? No. It's understandable. There's lots of different pieces, there's lots of guys trying to figure it out on the fly. We're trying to figure it out on the fly. I would have never probably have given you that rotation list pregame of what was going on. But the feel of what was going on and who needed to get in there and what sparks there were and where we could plug gaps and things is a little bit of how we're playing.
"But that doesn't mean we can't go out there and play really well. And I always hope for any situations, that chemistry will grow throughout one game. As the game gets going, we start figuring out who's in for this matchup or who's in for this night and go from there."
It's like putting a puzzle together from the inside out. There is really no border for this team as they try to hang on to their position.
Nurse did talk of Embiid probably not being too far away from getting on the court after the team announced he would be reevaluated in about a week, and George has looked good in his workouts as he prepares to return for the final ten games of the season. Until then, it's a chess game for Nurse, with many of his pieces already captured.
"We're trying to take care of the ball and not turn it over so we get shots," he said. "We're trying to generate shots. That's what you can control. The better the shot the better the chance they can go in. Sometimes they go in and sometimes they don't go in and you're going to have to scrap and claw in other ways to make up for the bad shooting nights. On the other side, we try to create turnovers, we try to make them take the shots we want them to take, we try to contest shots and we've just got to do a better job of rebounding. In some of the games we've lost against really good teams, I think we've outplayed them in almost all facets other than defensive rebounding.
"We are trying to control. We can control what our shot creation looks like. We can control taking care of the ball, which will be huge (Saturday against Atlanta). These guys are turning everyone over like crazy and turning that into quick points. And, control our effort."
