Jan. 25, 2026, 5:31 a.m. ET
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers had their chances late on Saturday afternoon as they hosted the New York Knicks in the finale of a 6-game homestand. The Sixers trailed by 17 in the fourth quarter, but rallied to give themselves a chance despite a poor third-quarter effort. However, it wasn’t enough in a 112-109 loss as they finished 2-4 on the homestand.
Joel Embiid had 38 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists on the day to lead the Sixers. Tyrese Maxey added 22 points and six assists, Kelly Oubre Jr. had 14 points and seven rebounds, Paul George had nine points and six rebounds, and VJ Edgecombe added 14 and four assists.
Here are the three biggest takeaways after the loss to the Knicks:
Major rebounding struggles
The biggest problem for the Sixers that stood out in this one was the rebounding issues. The Knicks won the rebounding battle 53-38 and had 26 second-chance points compared to just four for the Sixers. New York received 13 rebounds from Josh Hart, 10 from Mitchell Robinson off the bench, and OG Anunoby grabbed seven for New York. The Knicks pulled down 19 offensive rebounds as it was a problem throughout this one. When considering the issues, one has to wonder why coach Nick Nurse didn’t turn to Andre Drummond who has been an efficient rebounder for Philadelphia. He’s averaging a team-leading 9.0 rebounds on the season and specializes in that area, and he did have 14 points and 13 rebounds in his one matchup against the Knicks, but Nurse explained his decision after the loss.
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“Not really tonight,” Nurse said when asked if he considered turning to Drummond. “I mean, I think both him and Jabari (Walker) are probably two quality rebounders for us. The only thing we did think about was trying the big lineup. They weren’t very big much tonight, nor were they 5, 4 much tonight, either, but we did think about that.”
Second half struggles
A familiar issue for the Sixers popped up again on Saturday afternoon and that was the third quarter. The Knicks won that quarter 30-13 and held Embiid scoreless in the quarter after he scored 28 in the first half. New York got physical and aggressive on the defensive end of the floor and played with purpose on the offensive end. The Knicks shot 4-for-9 from deep and 54.2% from the floor in the third and held the Sixers to 23.5% shooting and 2-for-10 from deep. Embiid, in particular, was unable to get going after halftime as he did to start the game.
Nurse on Embiid’s struggles after halftime:
I think mainly they really started getting into us, right? I think the catches were getting a little further away. They were knifing over some of the handoffs, and knocking them out of off our own body and and just breaking up a lot of the rhythm. Most of it was just them getting physical and getting over and there just wasn’t quite the rhythm with that. I mean, they just pressed up on him. They pulled the weak side over a little more that we didn’t do a great job. I mean, obviously, we didn’t play very well on the third and a lot of that was the offensive fault and the defensive rebounding. Those two things. We just gotta, again, continue to work on a variety of things that we’re doing, and just a little bit too much of the same, probably tonight.
Barlow’s professionalism
The Sixers started Dominick Barlow at the 4 for the most part of the season thus far. However, Nurse and Co. have decided to turn to Oubre in the starting lineup and he has produced some good numbers as he is more of a natural fit next to Embiid, Maxey, and George. Barlow has taken the change in stride as he had some big moments in Thursday’s win over the Houston Rockets and played well off the bench against the Knicks.
“Nothing really changes,” Barlow said at his locker after the game. “My role is still the same. Just playing with different lineups. So I think try to find a way to just bring what I do best to a different lineup. I think that’s the challenge for myself to try and figure out. But communication-wise, it’s just matchup-based. Kelly’s playing really well.”