The clock struck midnight Thursday on the Sixers’ season opener at the Wells Fargo Center.
In an absolutely wild, back-and-forth night, the Sixers fell to the Knicks in a 118-115 Game 6 loss.
Buddy Hield (20 points) missed a long, desperate game-tying attempt in the final seconds.
Joel Embiid had 39 points and 13 rebounds. Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 41 points and 12 rebounds.
For the Sixers, Embiid is under contract. Tyrese Maxey is eligible for a five-year max contract. Beyond that is the team. Basically a blank slate this summer.
Here are some comments on the Sixers’ Game 6 loss:
The Sixers’ nightmare begins
Brunson started the scoring late on a shot over Tobias Harris with a spectacular jumper.
Donte DiVincenzo drained a second-chance three-pointer, Isaiah Hartenstein hit a layup and the Knicks got off to a hot start. They went 6-for-8 from the field and went up 17-4 when Max hit a long jumper by Brunson and the New York star guard made all three foul shots.
Brunson was characteristically composed and intelligent to start the game. Their Game 5 overtime loss didn’t disappoint for the Knicks on Tuesday night with a dramatic finish.
Embiid gets a face-up jumper on Hartenstein on the board. He made a bad early turnover when he threw a jump pass to the third row, but Embiid was on the game offensively. He scored the Sixers’ first nine points, made his first three field goals and scored on Hartenstein’s second foul at 6:22 of the first quarter.
Maxey’s Game 5 magic was missing early in Game 6. He shot 1-for-5 from the floor in the first quarter and turned the ball over on a poorly executed pick-and-pop with Embiid. The 23-year-old tried to answer DiVincenzo’s three immediately, but his jumper went wide. The Knicks’ lead ballooned to 28-9 on a driving Augie Anunoby layup and Sixers head coach Nick Nurse burned out the first period for the second time.
The Knicks played a stellar first quarter, but the Sixers lacked urgency and focus. New York held nine offensive boards in the first period and had just one turnover. The Sixers’ deficit grew to 22 points.
Keep it organized.
Following the nurse’s request to stay ready, Heald is sure.
After playing in 84 regular season games, Hield struggled in his first career playoff game. In games 1 through 3, he shot 1 for 7 from the field and his only basket was a layup. The 31-year-old sharpshooter was out of the nursing rotation for Games 4 and 5.
Hield is all about spending hours on the court, lining up shots and preparing behind the scenes, which made him good enough to come out in Game 6. However, an elimination game is different from assistant coach Rico Hines and his long workout. Sixers player development staff. Hield has shown initial rustiness, either by shooting a nurse or looking for anything that changes the look of the game. He turned the ball over early in the second quarter and failed to create a look as the shot clock expired.
However, Hield sank his first shot, nailing a key jumper. Then he did it again, catching and shooting a three off a feed from Embiid.
Heald was off and running from there. A second later, he tripled the three, “Bud-D, Buddy!” He heard. They sing on the bad line and played a big role in cleaning up their six deficit. The Knicks looked as upset as they had all series. Anunoby even missed an uncontested pony.
As a nurse, Kicks head coach Tom Thibodeau maintained a seven-man rotation. Hield had 17 first-half points, Nicolas Batum added 10, and the Sixers went on a 30-0 bench scoring run.
Brunson, better shadow Knicks in the midst of chaos
The Sixers inevitably benefited from the Knicks’ cooldown, but they stepped up defensively after the first quarter.
They weren’t flawless, but the Sixers moved around, closed tight, and played with obvious desperation as they dug out of an early hole.
Embiid made two threes in the first minute of the second half. The scrappy Knicks predictably responded well. Josh Hart’s layup cut the Sixers’ lead to 62-61.
Momentum swung back and forth in the third quarter. Kelly Oubre Jr. took a steal on a play after halftime and smiled as he waved for peace. Maxey got a steal of his own on the Knicks’ next possession, followed by a pulled-up three to set up a first-half field goal.
In addition to the diminished offensive output from Maxey, the Sixers got zero points from both Harris and Kyle Lowry in the game. Harris’ last five-year, $180 million contract was a fruitless 0-for-2 shooting.
The Sixers needed a big scoring performance from Embiid and he delivered, providing several valuable buckets in the third quarter as the Knicks made a few consecutive stops.
Batum and Cameron Payne knocked down threes late in the third quarter, but the Knicks were relentless. The Sixers were upset that Maxey didn’t get a drive attempt. Seconds later, Anunoby buried a three to tie the game at 83.
Embiid didn’t try to play the entire second half like Nurse did in Game 4. Instead, Paul Reed came in to start the fourth quarter and was joined by Hield. Both players grabbed offensive boards on the same possession, allowing Oubre to sink a three, but the Knicks continued to score and held a 92-88 edge when Embiid returned.
The Sixers briefly regained the lead when another Hield 3-pointer cut it to one point and the 35-year-old Batum (16 points, seven rebounds) jumped up for a putback dunk.
Then Brunson came up with a superstar stretch. He made back-to-back three-pointers to give his team a 101-95 lead. Maxey responded with a steal and a layup, but the Sixers eventually found themselves needing one more improbable comeback.
Brunson pushed the ball, found transition opportunities and made good decisions in the final seconds. A mid-range jumper at 3:26 left gave the Knicks an eight-point lead.
The six were far from finished. They blitzed Brunson, called some handy stops and pulled within one point on Oubre’s slam. A goal and one layup by Maxey won the game 111-all.
The Sixers successfully knocked the ball out of Brunson’s hands on the play, but Hart decided to shoot a three and buried it with 24.4 seconds left.
Embiid then quickly inbounded the ball on the Sixers’ next possession. However, the Sixers were unable to convert and Embiid fouled Donte DiVincenzo with 11.1 seconds left.
Crucially, that was Embiid’s sixth personal, meaning the night was over. DiVincenzo and Brunson made clutch free throws and the Sixers faced the brutal reality of a seventh straight playoff game that didn’t go past the second round.