The Philadelphia 76ers dropped the first game in round one against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. At one point, they led New York by 13 points, only to get manhandled on the boards and later face a deficit of 14. It’s obvious the Sixers were outrebounded, but what else do the Sixers and Nick Nurse need to change before Game 2?
Adjustment time
We can begin with transition defense. While the Sixers scored a paltry 11 points on the fast break, the Knicks scored 27. The irony of this stat is that New York was 30th in the league in pace this past regular season, according to Basketball Reference. With Jalen Brunson as more of a half-court style point guard, his team slows things down typically. On Saturday though, they got the ball off of misses and turnovers and pushed the pace.
Josh Hart, one of the best rebounding guards in the league, looked to get out on the break and take advantage of poor transition defense from the Sixers. Hart was a serious thorn in Nick Nurse’s side, not just rebounding but from the 3-point line. Hart secured 13 boards, but he also made four triples. With Hart cleaning the glass and pushing the pace, it gave the Knicks the advantage, especially after Embiid went down with a scary leg injury after a monstrous dunk.
OG Anunoby also benefited from fast break points, one play in particular where he stole an inbounds pass and scored alone in transition. If the Sixers want to tie things up in the second game, they must limit turnovers, which lead to fast break points for a team that has been limited to a slow paced, half court offense during the regular season.
Another adjustment has to come from the Sixers’ bench. Collectively, they only generated seven points. Yes, you read that correctly. Seven. Points. For the Sixers to have a shot at tying things up, Paul Reed, Nicolas Batum, Cam Payne, and Buddy Hield must score more. An aging Kyle Lowry and inconsistent Tobias Harris cannot be relied on it seems. An already ailing Embiid and double-team targeted Tyrese Maxey carry enough of the offensive load.
In the final quarter, the Sixers tried to rally, but an Embiid iso-heavy offense in the half-court stagnated the flow. The Knicks kept knocking down shots and killing the Sixers on the boards. Where was the 3-point threat of Buddy Hield, who was brought to Philly as a long-range shooting specialist? Cam Payne has plenty of postseason experience, and Nicolas Batum went off for 20 in the play-in game versus the Heat. Someone in this bunch needs to contribute more than four points in game two.
Optimism and hope
What can Sixers fans look at from game one to maintain hope? Their game plan of shutting down Jalen Brunson worked. Sure, he scored 22 points, but he had to take 26 shots to do it. He managed to score only one 3-pointer, and the Sixers forced him into five turnovers. Whatever tactics they used to fluster Brunson, expect Nick Nurse to execute that same plan. Another guard who the Sixers need to game plan for is someone who did not even score in double digits for New York until the month of January.
Miles McBride started getting more minutes around the time of the big midseason trade that sent RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley. Who did McBride get his first double-digit scoring game against? Yep, you guessed it, the Sixers back on Jan 5. Nick Nurse now has a chance to counter the bench production of New York, targeting McBride, who scored four consecutive games in single digits before the start of the playoffs.
McBride, a second-round pick out of West Virginia, is only in his second year, so Nurse should be able to figure out a way to minimize his impact. It is impressive that he has shown he is unafraid of the postseason bright lights, but Nurse cannot let McBride get hot in game two.
The Knicks won the first game at home but needed a lot of help from their bench. As a matter of fact, their entire starting lineup was in the negative when it came to the plus/minus box score column. Donte DiVincenzo underperformed and was a -23. The Knicks starting center, Isaiah Hartenstein, was a -13. It took three Knicks bench players to go +27 (Bogdanovic), +20 (Robinson), and +37 (McBride) for New York to win by seven points.
Can the Knicks replicate a strong bench performance, insane rebounding advantage, and solid fast break output from game one? Knowing Nick Nurse, he will adjust accordingly and focus on coming back to Philly with the series knotted up, 1-1.
