PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers will be aiming to improve to a 3-3 record at home when they host the New York Knicks on Saturday. This would have been a win for them after two tough losses at home, but it wasn’t to be as they lost to the Knicks 112-109. Their record fell to 24-20 this season and their home record fell to 12-13.
Joel Embiid had a strong first half, scoring 28 points on 10-of-12 shooting, looking comfortable against Knicks big men Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson. The big man started reminiscing about his 2023 MVP days while going to work and helping the 76ers take the lead.
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However, a poor third quarter allowed the Knicks to defeat Philadelphia 30-13. They held Embiid scoreless in the third quarter, and he scored 10 points on 3-of-9 shooting in the second half.
“As a team, everyone is going to be focused on offense, but defensively, we just didn’t stop,” Embiid said. “It’s always harder to face a set defense than to run in transition and get easy coverage. So I think that was our biggest problem. Just not getting enough stops in the third quarter. We did a better job in the fourth quarter, but there was so much to overcome.”
Embiid has a good point. Things were easier when Philadelphia was able to go out and run, but struggled in the third quarter. The Knicks shot 54.2% in the third quarter and made 4 of 9 three-pointers. Philadelphia buckled in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough.
Another big problem is backlash. The Knicks won the rebounding battle 53-38 and won the second chance scoring opportunity 26-4.
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“The first two games, we played really well against them,” Embiid added. “We just have to do a better job. I don’t think it’s necessarily the big guys. I think their guards are crashing the boards, so making sure we check our guys, especially on the perimeter, and take them away from them.”
In Embiid’s view, the Knicks got 10 rebounds from Robinson and six from Towns, but Josh Hart suddenly grabbed 13 rebounds and OG Anunoby grabbed seven rebounds, including a big comeback late in the fourth quarter. Coach Nick Nurse echoed Embiid’s sentiments.
“Listen, I think that’s definitely a huge concern coming out of the game, right?” the nurse said. “I mean, it’s a question at halftime. You usually have to use two on Robinson, right? It’s kind of dangerous because you put two on him and it’s like a double team. Does that free one guy up? I think a lot of them, I mean, he gets his share, but a lot of it comes from defenders swooping in from the corner and under the rim.”
The Sixers had to use two bodies against Robinson because he could dominate the game on the glass. However, it gives other players a chance to perform like they did with the Knicks. This is an area of the game that must be cleaned up going forward.
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“Once you put two guys on a true big man like that, we probably almost have to rotate to the next guy that comes up,” Nurse continued. “Usually at least one guy doesn’t go and you’ve got to use all five guys, right? You’ve got to use all five guys and sometimes it’s a little bit difficult to have someone shoot the ball or whatever, but it’s definitely a question after the game, but I think for the most part, we did a pretty good job.”
The Sixers, who have been consistent in their second-chance scoring efforts for the most part, failed to do that on Saturday.
“The worst thing to me is, usually when we have games like this, we give up 19 points tonight, but usually we give up 15 points and we get 17 points ourselves, right?” Nurse finished. “So it’s kind of like we can balance it out and we didn’t get anything on the other end tonight either. So certainly, like, probably the deciding factor in the game.”
The 76ers will look to rebound on Monday when they take on the Charlotte Hornets on the road.
This article originally appeared on 76ers Wired: Joel Embiid, 76ers react to woes in home loss to Knicks
