Sixers' Game 3 Loss to Knicks Yet Another Instance of Blown Opportunity

PHILADELPHIA — Perhaps the best thing the Sixers did in Game 3 was control the energy in the building early.

With both fanbases well represented, Philadelphia took control of the environment, drowning out any energy in favor of the Knicks with a blistering start to the game.

But as the first quarter went on and the Knicks chipped away, you felt the environment go against Philadelphia, every good play by the away team magnified by their well-traveled supporters. By the end of the first, the Knicks had the Sixers' advantage whittled down to four points. The break in between quarters did not stop the momentum New York built.

Joel Embiid never had it, clearly hobbled by injuries.

But as damaging as his admirable effort to play through injuries was his lack of poise. His focus was on drawing out the whistle practically every time he touched the ball in the first half. He lacked control with the ball, forcing aggression instead of applying it methodically.

It was the type of decision-making you’d expect out of a much younger Embiid, one who didn’t trust his teammates and, in turn, tried to be a hero. He kept trying to dive hard to the rim through contact in hopes of drawing fouls. It was unnatural.

You could see the health play a major factor on defense. Embiid had limited lift to contest shots. He could not win battles for rebounds. The Knicks attacked him in space all night long.

But he wasn't alone. The whole team looked out of sorts as the Knicks went on their run.

Kelly Oubre tried to walk into a jumper over Mitchell Robinson in that fateful second quarter. The Knicks big man spiked the ball back over his head.

Nothing was simple. No basket came with ease. Philadelphia's best moves to the rim were authored by their most helter-skelter players. The Knicks were on an unremitting mission to blitz on pick-and-rolls for Tyrese Maxey, who was not changing the game by making reads over the length. Paul George settled for contested jumpers after a great rhythm to open the game. He could not blow by defenders, instead settling for contested mid-range looks en route to an 0-for-9 finish after a 6-for-9 start to the game.

The only thing nearly as obvious as the limitations on Embiid's body was that Jalen Brunson had solved V.J. Edgecombe's halfcourt defense. Edgecombe had command at the point of attack. But Brunson was able to get him off balance and a step behind with counter moves, increasing Edgecombe's natural tendency to get more handsy as he tried to recover his defensive positioning. By the final minutes of the second quarter, Brunson had him jumping at the second move over and over again.

A Jose Alvarado wing 3 with eight mintues and 20 seconds to play in the second quarter gave the Knicks their first lead of the game, 38-35.

They never looked back.

This game was about blown opportunities.

The Sixers gave away a 12-point first-quarter lead. An Embiid layup cut the deficit to two points with two minutes and 28 seconds left in the third quarter. The Sixers missed six shots on their next five possessions, allowing New York to rebuild their advantage to nine points by the third-quarter buzzer. Demoralizing given that the Sixers were down just eight going into halftime.

This short series has been about blown opportunities. The Sixers appeared on the cusp of winning Game 2 in New York, stealing homecourt advantage without Embiid even playing. Philadelphia then went five minutes and 52 seconds without making a shot, dooming themselves to a 2-0 series disadvantage heading back home.

You can trace some of the disadvantages of this series back to blown opportunities in the series win over the Boston Celtics. The Sixers had every chance to secure a win in Game 3 of that series without Embiid. Had they won that game, the Sixers would've put the Boston Celtics away in six games. They'd have had an extra day of rest and been on the same schedule as the Knicks.

But they lost Game 3. The rest is history.

Quentin Grimes is the only Sixers reserve averaging more than 14 minutes per game in this series.

The starters are stretched to their limits during the games, and that's before you account for the emotional and physical fatigue they brought to this series.

Oubre acknowledged that a fatigue has inevitably set in as the Sixers transitioned quickly from beating the Celtics in seven games to facing these Knicks in the Conference semifinals.

"But the teams that play til the last game of the season, don't you think that they're tired, too? It's the ones who are mentally tough, the ones who can fight the fatigue, do the right things to get their bodies right preseason, offseason and throughout the season, those are the teams that hold the trophy up at the end of the year. So there ain't no excuse," Oubre told reporters after Game 3.

"This is the longest basketball that I've played here since I've been here. It's a challenge. But at the end of the day, I think we're up for it. I'm up for it. I'm excited to play every night. Get my body right no matter if I'm feeling up or down. I'm going to go out there and give it 100% no matter what."

With Embiid not operating at the peak of his powers, the Sixers need Maxey to shoulder the load. That burden has been made more challenging by the injured tendon in the pinky on his shooting hand. The amount of defensive attention coming his way and minutes load aren't helping.

It would sure help if the Sixers hadn't blown their opportunity to acquire some depth at the trade deadline.

With each passing day, it is increasingly unforgiveable that the people running this organization let the deadline pass without making any additions to the team. It is one thing to trade Jared McCain, whose future in Philadelphia was capped. It is another thing—a sin, at that—to not accomplish anything with the time left between that trade and the deadline.

Whether it was a misevaluation of the trade market, a misevaluation of the team's chances to make noise in the East or a failure to convince those writing the checks that it was worth going into the luxury tax for this team, it's a blown opportunity.

And it is a series of blown opportunities, some at a macro level and some at a micro level, that have the Sixers on the brink of elimination. They are well aware of the history. Trailing 3-0 in a playoff series is, for all intents and purposes, a death sentence.

"You get in a situation like this and all you can do is try to get the next one and then see what happens. I know that's pretty obvious. But it turns to, if you can get one, it turns to 3-1 pretty quick and you don't have to think about it being 3-0 anymore," Nick Nurse told reporters on Friday night.

"But we're going to have to really dig in and regroup and make some adjustments. Do things better."

The Celtics were not as good as the Knicks are. Not even close. But the Sixers remain slightly dangerous because of the fact that they can lean on their experience from trailing Boston 3-1 in the first round. They've already made history once this month.

"You add a game to it. We only had to win three in a row. Now we got to win four in a row. It's still a great challenge and, hey, you got to go do it," Maxey said after Game 3.

"Either you don't play with any pride and you get swept on your home floor in the second round of the playoffs or you play with some pride and you win one game at a time."

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