Joel Embiid blames 76ers' struggles on lack of offensive identity

All-Star center  Joel Embiid is in one of the worst stretches of his career, and his Philadelphia 76ers are digging themselves a hole in the Eastern Conference, losing three in a row going into Thursday's game against the Bucks in Milwaukee.

Embiid acknowledged to reporters Wednesday that the 76ers (31-20) don't have an offensive identity right now.

"Like I say from time to time, you don't know what you're getting," Embiid said Wednesday. "I don't know if I'm getting into the game and if I'm getting the ball or not.

"Spacing is an issue," he said. "Sometimes we play fast, sometimes we play slow. But at the end of the day, when you think about it and as we try to get ready for the playoffs, the game slows down. It becomes a half-court game, and that's where we struggle the most. So hopefully we do a better job the next few games."

Embiid said the issue is not that players have tuned out coach Brett Brown.

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"We haven't been winning. Our offense has not been good," Embiid said. "But I always say, coaches are not out there to make shots for us, they don't make plays. They can do a better job of setting everything up, but at the end of the day we make the plays."

On Saturday night in a 116-95 loss to the Boston Celtics, Embiid finished with 11 points on 1-for-11 shooting to go with 5 rebounds, 4 turnovers and a game-worst minus-25 in 23 minutes.

Embiid said that he sometimes struggles with trying to find the right balance between needing to be at the 3-point line and needing to be in the post.