April 22, 2024
Wendell Cruz/USA TODAY Sports
New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson gave reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid plenty of fits in Saturday night's Game 1 victory over the Sixers at Madison Square Garden.
In an intense back-and-forth contest that went down to the final seconds, the Sixers lost their first playoff game under first-year head coach Nick Nurse on Saturday evening, falling on the road to the New York Knicks, 111-104. Their Game 1 performance was encouraging in some ways, but in other ways it raised major concerns.
Let's break down some of the keys stemming from Saturday's heart-breaking defeat as the Sixers prepare to return to Madison Square Garden on Monday night in hopes of evening the series at 1-1 before it heads to Philadelphia.
Embiid was toying with the Knicks' defenders for the vast majority of the first half, including his personal 9-0 run in the game's opening minutes, which set the tone in a major way. But with just under three minutes remaining in the second quarter and the Sixers' offense teetering, Embiid threw down a vicious and brilliant dunk over Knicks wing OG Anunoby: Embiid tricked Knicks center Mitchell Robinson with a pump-fake, leaned towards the basket and had both the physical capability and mental capacity to try and succeed in throwing himself an alley-oop off the glass in traffic. It would have been an epic highlight reel play had Embiid not fallen down immediately afterwards feeling severe pain in the same left knee which kept him out for more than two months when he injured its meniscus.
Joel Embiid went down after throwing down this dunk
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) April 20, 2024
pic.twitter.com/0HecQuNkhk
After needing a minute or so to get off the floor, Embiid was instantly helped to the locker room and missed the remainder of the first half. It was not until the second half was merely seconds away from beginning when Embiid emerged from the locker room and casually took the floor to begin the third quarter. It was a stunning turn of events.
"He's really a warrior," Nurse said after the game.
Nurse is right, and Embiid's toughness should be lauded. But after his impressive first-half performance, he was a shell of himself after returning from the injury, particularly on the offensive end: Embiid made just two of his dozen field goal attempts in the second half and was clearly not in peak physical condition due to the fall.
Embiid's offensive performance in Game 2 largely hinges on his own health, but it also depends to an extent on how the Knicks defend him -- in particular, who they defend him with. Isaiah Hartenstein has been the Knicks' starting center for the vast majority of the season, but he only logged 18 minutes on Saturday. His backup, Mitchell Robinson -- who was the Knicks' regular starting center for more than three years before suffering an ankle injury early this season, which ultimately required surgery -- stole the show, putting on a defensive clinic against Embiid, who he has long been able to give fits (at least for moments at a time) due to his height and length.
Robinson returned to the Knicks' rotation after nearly four months on the shelf on March 27, but in the team's last 10 games of the regular season never started and logged only 15.5 minutes per game. The extent of his availability was up in the air heading into Game 1, but then he played 30 brilliant minutes for head coach Tom Thibodeau -- the most time he has spent on the floor in a game since Dec. 1 of 2023.
While Robinson has gotten the better of Embiid on occasion, Embiid is particularly adept at baiting the foul-happy Robinson into inciting whistles. Hunting for foul calls in a physical playoff series is a risky move, but perhaps it is what Embiid will consider to counter Robinson's long arms and bounciness.
Harris has struggled mightily of late, which culminated in him being benched in the final minutes of the Sixers' Play-In Tournament victory over the Miami Heat on Wednesday night -- paving the way for a Nico Batum performance for the ages. Many Sixers fans -- among whom the approval rating of Harris is at an all-time low, which speaks volumes -- rejoiced that Nurse may finally be willing to phase out the veteran wing who is playing out the final games of an infamous five-year, $180 million contract.
Harris knocked down a corner triple on his first shot attempt in Game 1 and pulled four rebounds in the first quarter. Quickly, it began to feel as if he at least had a chance of breaking out of his slump. Unfortunately for Harris and the Sixers, that is not what happened.
Harris made the same sorts of admissions in Game 1 that he did against Miami and in many prior crucial Sixers games: he disappeared into the background for much of the game as an offensive player, but when he was noticeable on that end of the floor, it was for taking too long to make a decision or missing a wide open look by a horrific amount.
Harris' defense was also problematic. On two different occasions he committed silly fouls in the backcourt which generated Knicks free throw attempts. There were multiple other instances in which he left his man wide open from beyond the arc.
When asked in a media availability on Sunday afternoon at the team hotel about Harris' role, Nurse shrugged and gave a tentative answer. While he will never admit publicly that Harris' performance has been consistently disappointing, Nurse's recent words and actions reflect somewhat of a changing of the guard when it comes to how the Sixers have treated and discussed Harris. What his role will look like on Monday night appears to be a bit of a mystery.
Aside from Embiid's injury, there was one key reason the Sixers dropped Game 1, and it was obvious to anyone who watched the game: rebounding. The Knicks, who are known as an elite offensive rebounding team, pulled 23 offensive boards on Saturday -- an outright ridiculous number.
In addition to hot three-point shooting from a trio of role players in starting wing Josh Hart and key reserves Miles "Deuce" McBride and Bojan Bogdanovic, it was their relentless pursuit on the glass that gave the Knicks the edge in this one.
Nurse said after Game 1 that there are several things the Sixers need to do moving forward to avoid such a catastrophic rebounding discrepancy. Sixers guard Kyle Lowry affirmed later on that night that the game had been a "real-life battle," but the Sixers could recover and shore up their rebounding efforts.
One option that Nurse appears to be floating: playing Embiid alongside Paul Reed. Reed's plus/minus in Game 1 was a brutal -21 in 11 minutes, but he largely played well. Reed came up with two crucial offensive rebounds that he turned into baskets and had several impressive defensive stops.
The idea of Embiid and his traditional backup sharing the floor was a commonly thrown-around concept during the offseason, training camp and the preseason, but it barely ever came to fruition in the regular season: according to the basketball statistics website ironically known as Cleaning the Glass, Embiid and Reed only shared the floor for 16 total possessions in 2023-24 regular season.
Embiid is a good enough shooter and skilled enough passer to even make the wonkier of fits work on the offensive end of the floor, and even Reed has become a passable three-point shooter himself. The nature of the fit between the two on offense has always been scrutinized, though, and rightfully so. But the tantalizing defensive potential that could come with Embiid and Reed sharing the floor has always excited people.
While that defensive duo could be frightening for opposing teams, its potential on that end of the floor may not even end up being the primary reason Nurse calls upon it in a playoff game. Instead, the main motivation would be putting the Sixers' two most formidable rebounders on the floor at the same time in an attempt to prevent the Knicks from banking countless second-chance points.
After the way the Knicks routinely grabbed their own misses on Saturday, anything feels worth a shot.
