Joel Embiid sat out Game 2 of the Sixers‘ series against the Knicks due to ankle and hip injuries. He returned for Game 3 but only contributed 16 points and six rebounds in 34 minutes as Philadelphia fell behind 3-0 in the series with a 108-94 loss.
“I thought he gave us everything he could,” head coach Nick Nurse said of Embiid, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. “I really do. I think he tried to give us everything he could tonight, and that’s all he can do.”
The Knicks also went right at Embiid on defense, taking advantage of his limited mobility.
“I’m OK,” Embiid said. “Obviously, a tough loss tonight.”
Here’s more on the Sixers:
- Their bench failed them in Game 3, according to Gina Mizell of the Philadelphia Inquirer, who notes that the reserves didn’t produce a single point in the first three quarters Friday’s contest. They were eventually outscored 29-11 by the Knicks’ reserves. “We definitely need a push. Someone [to] come in and give us that extra little [oomph],” Paul George said. “That’s what it’s going to take, especially in the playoffs. You need everybody. You need role guys to step up and bench guys to step up. We’ve got the guys that can do it. I’m positive that we’ll make a turnaround for Game 4.”
- The Sixers rallied from a 3-1 deficit against Boston in the opening round. They’ll have to summon up even more magic to pull off a comeback in this series. “We’re in a situation where we have to go out there and get the next one and see what happens,” Nurse said, per Tony Jones of The Athletic. “If you get one, it gets to 3-1, and then a series can turn pretty quickly. But we’re going to have to dig in and do some things better. We started out tonight playing great. But we had a bad stretch of defensive rebounding, and we gave up direct line drives. We just didn’t score enough. We didn’t keep the scoreboard moving.” Kelly Oubre Jr. notes they’ll have to improve in several areas to pull it off. “I think we have to stay swaggy,” he said. “This team has told a tale of resilience. Whenever we’ve had our backs against the wall, we’ve fought hard. We are the ones who dug ourselves this hole. We’re the only ones who can dig ourselves out of this hole. But we have to clean up a lot of mistakes. We have to go and look at the film and see where they are burning us.”
- The team’s three max players — Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and George — carried them to the second round but haven’t been up to the task to get them out of the conference semis, Adam Aaranson of PhillyVoice.com writes. Maxey had a dazzling series against Boston in which he busted every coverage and took care of the ball, Aaronson points out, but he’s been neutralized by New York’s length while committing careless turnovers. He also looks exhausted after logging 41.0 minutes per game in the first round, having been held to 18.7 PPG and 5.0 APG in three games by New York. Maxey has committed four turnovers per game while knocking down just two total three-pointers.
Bench was better with McCain. He also could’ve given Maxey, who looked gassed at the end, a breather. Eff Morey.
I said this when the trade was announced and received a lot of backlash for it. The thing is McCain makes peanuts and was only in year 2 of a rookie deal. We had zero reason to trade him. Now he is thriving in OKC in the same role we need him here for. Sad part we moved him for a pick that’s going to be what in the mid 20’s. What a joke
Josh Harris is a joke. He didn’t want to pay the tax. The only reason they traded McCain.
Fire Morey…and if the Knicks series ends the process that would be a win. The Knicks are better than the Sixers at everything on the basketball court.
Ends the process? The process has been over for quite some time. They’ve had a veteran heavy team competing for the playoffs for several years now. But, I agree with firing Morey…but they shouldn’t stop there. Brand and Nurse have to go as well. Clean house top to bottom
Wow, until you mentioned it, I wasn’t even aware that Brand had a role with the team. I actually wish that Harris would sell the team to someone who values winning. I think he is very focused on the Commanders, to the detriment of the Sixers.
Disagree. The process doesn’t end until Embiid is gone. They literally still announce him as the process Embiid
Unfortunately, that will probably never happen until he retires – he has the most untradeable contract in the league.
I disagree he is untradeable. However we will have to take back a bad contract. However I don’t trust Morey to trade him. I do think I team like the hornets would make a lot of sense here. Coming off a good year(by their standards).
Hawks would probably be the best fit for him, but they like to play fast. But I don’t think Sixers would be interested in a salary dump. George is probably a worse contract, anyway, and they definitely can’t dump him without attaching picks. Three recent comps for potential Embiid trade are Ingram, Trae Young, and AD trades. All went to tanking teams that intended to sit them. That’s probably the best framework for an Embiid trade, but if they trade Embiid, they kind of have to blow it all the way up, right? They probably should, but I doubt they will.
The problem with those comps is that Embiid’s extension hasn’t even started yet – there isn’t a lot of appetite in the league to pay someone $190M over the next three years when he doesn’t end up playing in half your games, and you have no control over which half they will be.
Embiid’s unavailability makes Kawhi look like an iron man ☹️
Don’t care that they get off to good starts with PG making his only shots of the game. Knicks depth, talent, coaching etc is just leagues better than the Sixers. Sixers tire out and couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat. Knicks are putting on a masterclass so far.
Knicks are just a lot deeper, and Embiid is too brittle. Outside of Grimes, they really have no bench. This is their ceiling.