Sixers Crumble In The 4th Quarter, Down 1-3 In Series
For 3 quarters, the Sixers kept it close. They would go on a run, then the Knicks would go on a run. But they never felt out of it, or overmatched. That all changed in the 4th quarter. Crumbling might be too kind of a word for what we saw in the final 12 minutes.
Just 16 points. They didn’t make a single FG in the final 5 minutes. And in what has been one of the stories of the series, the Knicks dominated them on the offensive boards. The Knicks finished with 15 offensive rebounds, but 9 of those came in the 4th quarter alone.
Joel Embiid Ran Out of Gas
With the Sixers entering the 4th quarter down 1, Nick Nurse made the call to stick with Embiid, never going to the bench. It might have made sense at the time, but it did not pan out. After entering the 4th quarter with 26 points, he scored just 1 more the rest of the way.
Embiid gave them good defense still, but he became a nonfactor on offense and visibly looked tired. They may have been better off holding their breath, putting in Paul Reed, and letting Embiid get some rest before coming back in. They might have still lost, but they may have at least had a competitive Embiid in those final 8 minutes.
Maxey struggled late in the game too. He was getting his shots, but they did not fall for him.
The Sixers Bench Vanishes Again
The other story of the series has been how little the Sixers’ bench gave them. That was the case again in game 4.
6 points. 5 by Cam Payne in the 4th quarter. Thee other 1 came from Nico Batum who split FTs early in the game. But he gave them nothing on offense the rest of the way. Buddy Hield never saw the floor.
DeAnthony Melton made his return, but he looked like a guy who had missed a couple of weeks with a back injury.
Maxey And Embiid did not do enough on offense in the 4th quarter. But they also got no help.
Brunson may have scored 47 points, but he also got help from Mcbride, and Divencenzo late in the game. Other than Kelly Oubre, none of the Sixers’ role players carried their weight on offense.
What Is Next?
They aren’t dead yet, but it is close. They do down 1-3 in this series. They would need to win out, and two of those wins would have to come on the road. Wells Fargo already seemed like a Knicks crowd in games 3 and 4, but we saw the atmosphere up there was crazy, and it led to great minutes by their bench players in those 2 games.
Game 5 is Tuesday night. They need to start by winning that game. if they do that, they can start thinking about game 6 Thursday night back here, followed by game 7 next Saturday. But with how they played today, this thing might be over in a couple of days.
If they are going to climb out of this hole, someone besides the two stars will need to step up. They obviously need to be great too, but they can’t do it all by themselves. They both combined for 60-70 points in the first two games, and the Sixers still lost.
If Harris, Lowry, Batum, Hield, Payne, or somebody, can’t find a way to contribute on offense, the Sixers will not dig out of this hole. They may not dig out of it anyway, but they stand no chance if it is Embiid and Maxey vs the Knicks.
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A Cup of Coffee: 10 Philadelphia Sixers Players Better Known With Other Teams
Nikola Vucevic
Vucevic has had a nice career between the Magic and Bulls. But he started out as a rookie that Doug Collins refused to give too many minutes to. The next offseason after being drafted, he was part of the now infamous deal for Andrew Bynum. He went on to make two All-Star games. Bynum never played a minute for the Sixers.
Kwame Brown
One of the most famous NBA busts had a cup of coffee with the Sixers. The Warriors sent him to the Bucks as part of the Andrew Bogut trade. The Bucks cut him soon after though. He signed a 2-year deal with the Sixers, but played in only 22 games and was cut before the second season of his contract. He nearly had as many personal fouls (37) as he did points (41) while with the Sixers. It was the last chance in the NBA he ever got.
Glenn Robinson
The Sixers tried so hard to find the second scoring option behind Allen Iverson. One of the guys they tried, was Glenn Robinson. He was very good with the Bucks, usually averaging over 20 points per game. He was not bad with the Sixers, but he was not that same guy. He played just 42 games here and averaged 16 points per game. He was injured for his entire 2nd season here and then got traded.
JaVale McGee
McGee is perhaps best known for his frequent appearances on Shaqtin a Fool. Its gave him a bit of an unfair repuation. Did he make some bone headed plays in his career? Yes. But he was also a 3-time champion, an Olympic Gold Medalist, and a physical presence on defense.
His time with the Sixers was know memorable at all though. The Nuggets shipped him here, along with a first round pick, and the rights to Chukwudiebere Maduabum, as a pure salary dump. He played just 6 games here.
Toni Kucoc
Kucoc won 3 NBA Finals with the Bulls, was 6th Man of The Year in the 1995-1995 season, and won pretty much every award you can as a Basketball player when over in Europe. He was a significant piece of the Bulls second run of 3 straight championships. But he did not get much time with the Sixers.
He was decent in the 1999 -2000 season, averaging 12 points per game. But the next season he was part of the trade that landed the Sixers Dikembe Motumbo. In the end, he played in only 80 total games here, averaging a little over 8 points per game.
Dwight Howard
Obviously we don’t forget he played here. It is too recent. But he will be one of those guys where we look back one day and go “Oh yea, he did play here.”. Howard was probably one of the best backups for Embiid. He only lasted one year here. And like so many backup bigs before him, he disappeared in the playoff.
Chris Webber
Not sure if anyone forgets his time here, so maybe it doesn’t quite fit the brief. But Webber is a superstar, who had a disappointing cup of coffee in Philly. Webber was supposed to come here and finally be the guy to be AI’s Co-Star. It never quite worked out. He was injured for parts of his first season, had a decent first full season here, but then was benched in year 3.
