NEW YORK -- The plan was evident early by Nick Nurse's team, and they executed quite well for most of the night against the New York Knicks in Game 2 of their best-of-seven-series.
The Sixers decided to try and keep the ball out of Jalen Brunson's hands as much as possible, as they picked him up in the full court, tried to get someone else to bring up the ball and take time off the clock before Brunson was finally able to get it back. They also didn't want to get blitzed from behind the three-point line like they did in Monday's blowout.
In all, it wasn't enough, as the Sixers dropped a 108-102 decision to fall behind in the series 2-0. Game 3 will be Friday at 8 p.m. in Philadelphia.
The blueprint for the game had to be reworked on Wednesday morning when it was found out at shootaround that Joel Embiid wouldn't be able to go with a right ankle sprain and right hip soreness. Andre Drummond started in his place and he and Adem Bona saw significant time, but they were both plagued by foul trouble all game. Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns, who was having his way inside early, was also hindered by foul trouble most of the first half when he picked up his second foul with 4:29 in the first. After a stint on the bench, he returned in the second and picked up his third just 46 seconds in. He sat out the remainder of the half and the Sixers had a 62-61 lead.
Brunson, who torched the Sixers for 35 points in Game 1, didn't get his first basket until 1:37 remained in the first quarter. But he and his fellow Villanova alumni chums played a big part in the end.
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Kelly Oubre, Jr. hit a three with 6:52 to go in the game to give the Sixers a 99-96 lead. Josh Hart then hit a three to tie it, Brunson hit a pair of mid-range jumpers and Mikal Bridges added a 20-footer and the lead got to 105-99 with 2:31 to play. After Oubre's three, the Sixers didn't hit another field goal until Tyrese Maxey hit a layup with a minute to go.
Maxey led the Sixers with 26 points, but shot 9-for-23 from the floor and had six turnovers. Paul George and Oubre each had 19, while VJ Edgecombe added 17.
Brunson scored 26 to lead the Knicks, while OG Anunoby had 24 and Towns added 20 and 10 rebounds.
After George scored 11 points in the first quarter to help his team to a 33-31 lead, Maxey scored 14 of the Sixers first 17 points of the second quarter to guide them to a 62-61 lead at the half.
"They're still a good team," said Knicks coach Mike Brown before the game. "They've got a lot of guys that put the ball on the floor and attack the rim, that can shoot threes. They still like to get out in transition. They have some guys that are capable of stepping up. They've won some big games without him.
"Tyrese is dangerous with or without Embiid. I don't think there's been a single time that he's had back-to-back games where he hasn't scored 25 points this year. So, we know that he's going to be ultra aggressive. He's more than a capable passer. Paul George is going to be aggressive. Edgecombe is going to be aggressive. Those guys probably see it as an opportunity to get more touches for themselves. Those guys are all capable of stepping their games up to another level."
Brown had a strategy of his own, and it was for Towns to attack whomever Nurse put on the floor. Towns continually took Drummond, then Bona, to the basket all night. The only way the Sixers were able to stop Towns was when he was on the bench, dealing with his own foul trouble.
After Bona picked up his fifth foul late in the third and with Drummond already on the bench with four, Dominick Barlow got the call from Nurse and gave the team solid minutes with good screens, rolls to the basket and active defense.
It was all sort of a mish-mash of planning for Nurse after getting the news in the morning of Embiid's inavailability.
"He's really disappointed," said Nurse. "He really wants to be out there. Coming back from that appendectomy so quick was not easy for him to do. He's worked extremely hard to get back and continues to want to play badly. I feel bad for him because he really wants to be out there and we want him out there.
"Our medical team and everybody just ruled him out. He just couldn't go. I know that, based on his reaction, he was generally upset."
We'll see where he is come Friday. But for now, we know the Sixers will have to dig out of yet another playoff hole.
