PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers had their chances on Sunday against the New York Knicks. It was a Game 4 in their building down 2-1 in the series and the game was in the balance down the stretch.
A familiar issue popped up for the Sixers in this series: the inability to keep the Knicks off the glass.
New York grabbed seven offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter that led to 11 second-chance points. Joel Embiid grabbed one rebound in the final frame.
“I think part of it is, obviously, their best player that they trust and they don’t care if he takes 40 shots a game,” Embiid said after the loss. “I think most of the time when you’re in rotation or when you’re trying to load up to make sure he doesn’t get easy shots, that kinda gives them a lot of open lanes to just attack the offensive glass. It almost seems like they just know he’s gonna shoot it and they’re just getting ready to offensive rebound.”
Rebounding has been a key point in this series. Coach Nick Nurse has pointed it out to this group all series, and the Knicks were still able to do what they do down the stretch. OG Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa combined for five of the seven offensive rebounds.
“You know what’s crazy about that is Nurse kept saying, he’s going to show them film from Game 1,” added Tyrese Maxey. “Games 2 and 3, we did a great job of just boxing out and grabbing every single rebound for the most part, until the end of Game 2.”
Before Game 4, Nurse made it a point to show the Sixers the importance of crashing the glass.
“He said it, he kept saying it, he kept saying it before the game, ‘Guys, I promise you they are going to show them film, Thibs is going to show them film from Game 1 saying listen this is how we have to beat this team. We have to go in there, we have to go in there and grab every single rebound.’” Maxey added. “And for the most part, we did a decent job, it’s just the fourth quarter they got some extra possessions that cost us.”
Even with the rebounding struggles in the fourth quarter, there was a stretch in the third when it appeared the Sixers would pull away. Philadelphia was unable to do so, and it allowed the Knicks to stay in it.
“I thought in that second half, that third quarter stretch, we had too many possessions where we didn’t get a look up there,” added Tobias Harris. “Whether it was a turnover or just disorganization from us on the offensive end and then they were able to capitalize, but the name of the game was that stretch that we had there and also, on the offensive boards for them.”
At the end of the day, the Sixers needed to execute on the glass and were unable to do so.
“I think we had a lot of bad bounces,” added Embiid. “You look at the game, every single shot, it just felt like it kept falling in their hands. Sometimes, you can do the best job possible to try and box out, but if the ball doesn’t bounce your way, there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Game 5 is Tuesday back in New York.
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