Observations After Sixers Start Round 2 Of Playoffs With 39-point Loss To Knicks

Observations after Sixers start Round 2 of playoffs with 39-point loss to Knicks originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

NEW YORK — The Sixers thudded back to earth Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

Two days after celebrating a historic Game 7 victory over the Celtics, the Sixers opened their second-round playoff series against the Knicks by suffering a 137-98 loss. 

Jalen Brunson starred in New York’s Game 1 win, posting 35 points on 12-for-18 shooting in 31 minutes.

The Sixers’ top scorer was Paul George with 17 points. 

Joel Embiid had 14 points on 3-for-11 shooting. Tyrese Maxey scored 13 points and went 3 for 9 from the field. 

Game 2 is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET. Here are observations on the Sixers’ Game 1 loss:

Not how the Sixers drew it up against Brunson 

Mikal Bridges scored the first points of the series with a fast-break slam. VJ Edgecombe replied with a sweet baseline jumper and also nailed a corner three-pointer in the early going. 

Edgecombe had done strong work defending Brunson during the regular-season series and unsurprisingly began the night on the Knicks’ star guard. The Sixers’ other defenders on Brunson included Kelly Oubre Jr. and Quentin Grimes. 

Brunson started out in a serious zone against whoever he saw in front of him, finding shots with subtle fakes and hesitations. He poured in 14 of the Knicks’ first 21 points on 6-for-7 shooting. Edgecombe picked up his third foul at the 4:26 mark of the second quarter when he tripped up Brunson as the two chased after a loose ball. 

The Sixers will need to keep throwing different defenders and coverages at Brunson throughout the series in an effort to be unpredictable and disrupt his rhythm. They’ll also have to be better with the fundamentals of on-ball defense and try to make everything less comfortable for Brunson, from stepping into pull-up jumpers to wriggling free in the mid-range. 

Short rotation doesn‘t work this time for Sixers

Embiid started 0 for 3 from the floor, although he did draw Karl-Anthony Towns’ second foul with 6:55 left in the first quarter. Mitchell Robinson entered.

The Sixers began intentionally fouling Robinson with a little under three minutes in the first quarter, aiming to exploit a widely known weakness. Robinson made a mere 40.8 percent of his free throws this year.

Back on Dec. 19, the Sixers also hacked Robinson and he had his best foul shooting game of the season, going 7 for 8. He did not replicate that Monday, starting 0 for 4. New York subbed Robinson out and briefly replaced him with Ariel Hukporti so the Sixers couldn’t keep hacking. 

Despite the issue with Robinson’s free throws, the Knicks’ bench clearly outplayed the Sixers’ in the first half. Part of that was simply because Sixers head coach Nick Nurse maintained a short rotation. Grimes served as the Sixers’ sixth man. Andre Drummond and Justin Edwards totaled eight first-half minutes.

The Sixers’ lack of rest was surely relevant in Game 1. They had a single day off following a very taxing series against the Celtics. At some point, it appears Nurse will have to expand his rotation a bit, buy slightly more rest for his stars, and see if the Sixers’ bench players can provide an impactful performance or two. 

The Knicks also rely heavily on their star power, but they played 11 men Monday before garbage time and kept growing their lead in the second quarter. Towns canned a three over Drummond early in the second to put New York up 49-37. The Knicks’ advantage ballooned to 23 points when Brunson sunk a second-chance three on the final play of the first half. 

“They’re deep, they’re big, they’re pretty physical as well,” Grimes said of the Knicks before the Sixers’ Monday morning shootaround. “They’ve got a lot of guys who can shoot the three. … They’ve got a lot of guys who can do a lot of different things to put pressure on us at the defensive end. We’ve got to be ready to take their punches and just take care of business.”

Another nightmare Game 1

Maxey didn’t make a field goal until he converted a driving layup with 6:58 to go in the second quarter.

Bridges guarded him well and the Knicks mixed up their pick-and-roll coverages effectively. Maxey committed an uncharacteristic turnover when the Sixers ran a double drag action and he threw a high-risk pass toward the paint that Josh Hart intercepted. 

Almost nothing unfolded as the Sixers would have hoped on either side of the ball. George did stay scorching from three-point range, going 4 for 6 after shooting 55 percent beyond the arc in the Celtics series. 

Just like in their Game 1 and Game 4 defeats to the Celtics, the Sixers had no chance in the fourth quarter and garbage time was abundant. Nurse called timeout with 5:19 left in the third following a Bridges three that gave the Knicks a 95-65 lead.

Though the Sixers were full of self-belief after their comeback against the Celtics, it’s worth remembering that the Knicks also entered Round 2 on a three-game winning streak and eliminated the Hawks with a 51-point Game 6 victory on the road.

Monday’s result doesn’t mean the Sixers are destined to get crushed in this series. They still have dangerous stars and showed in Round 1 that they can defy conventional wisdom.

The Knicks are unequivocally another difficult opponent, however, and now the Sixers must play from behind again.