The Philadelphia 76ers are on a cold start. Although the Sixers have faced two legitimate NBA title contenders so far in the 2022-23 NBA season, their 90-88 home loss Thursday night to the Milwaukee Bucks nevertheless has put them in an early hole. Plus, their latest loss came at the hands of an undermanned Bucks team that did not have the injured pair of Khris Middleton and key reserve Pat Connaughton.

Making both losses even harder to swallow for the Sixers and their fans is the fact that James Harden has actually played like an MVP in those contests. Harden balled out anew Thursday, as he posted 31 points on 13-of-24 shooting from the field and also further stuffed the stat sheets with eight rebounds, nine assists, two steals, and a block. While he shot just 1-of-7 from behind the arc, he did turn the ball over just two times despite another heavy-usage outing.

Here are some more Twitter reactions to the Sixers' early season struggles.

https://twitter.com/sixersJay/status/1583267058187661314

https://twitter.com/CallMeDee_11/status/1583276199065030656

As you can glean from the other reactions above, Joel Embiid has also garnered some negative reactions from Sixers fans. Embiid played 36 minutes against the Bucks but mustered just a total of 15 points on a highly inefficient 6-of-21 shooting from the floor. He also apparently lacked aggressiveness, as he was just 2-for-3 from the free-throw line.

Meanwhile, Tobias Harris, who is supposed to be the third wheel for Harden and Embiid, also sputtered in the Bucks game, coughing up just nine points, though, to be fair to him, he had a better plus-minus of +2 than Embiid, who finished with a plus/minus of -10.

The Sixers will be the heavy favorites to win their next game, which will be against the San Antonio Spurs at home on Saturday.