{"id":730409,"date":"2026-05-10T06:12:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T06:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/730409\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T06:12:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T06:12:25","slug":"76ers-hope-to-get-out-of-own-way-facing-historical-nba-playoff-uphill-battle-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/730409\/","title":{"rendered":"76ers hope to get out of own way facing historical NBA playoff uphill battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA \u2014 It has been 24 minutes of ugly offensive basketball for the 76ers, two fourth quarters in which they managed a grand total of 30 points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Twelve points in the final quarter of Game 2, 18 in the final quarter of Game 3.<\/p>\n

Both were winnable games that were lost because of Philadelphia\u2019s offensive ineptitude, and now it will have to make NBA playoff history as the first team to rally from 3-0 down to advance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jalen Brunson drives on V.J. Edgecombe during the second quarter of the Knicks Game 3 win over the 76ers in Philadelphia. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

At least, that\u2019s how the 76ers see it. It wasn\u2019t the Knicks defense that did them in. It was their own doing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not making shots, we\u2019re getting a lot of looks,\u201d rookie VJ Edgecombe said Saturday. \u201cWe just watched the film. We\u2019re generating a lot of good looks. Nothing is going in for us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Game 2, the 76ers shot 4-for-19 from the field over the final 12 minutes. In Game 3, it was 7-for-20. Both contests were well within reach before Philadelphia went ice-cold.<\/p>\n

In Friday\u2019s loss, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse pointed to a pivotal moment.<\/p>\n

Trailing by 4 late in the third quarter, the 76ers got three consecutive stops but couldn\u2019t take advantage. Joel Embiid and Edgecombe missed open looks from 3-point range.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Joel Embiid put ups a shot during the 76ers\u2019 Game 3 loss to the Knicks. Jason Szenes for the New York Post<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s certainly an element of that for sure that has got us in the last two games,\u201d Nurse said. \u201cI don\u2019t expect to make them all. But you make one of those, it\u2019s a one-point game. Make two of them, you\u2019re up two. I don\u2019t know what else you can do other than create wide-open shots. Certainly, in Game 2, down the stretch there, all we did was have really good offensive creation. We just didn\u2019t make enough. I can\u2019t fault the guys\u2019 effort and trying to do the right thing. We just need them to go in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps most concerning is the right players have taken the shots. Paul George is 0-for-8 in those quarters, and Tyrese Maxey is 4-for-11. Embiid didn\u2019t play in Game 2 and was only 1-for-3 in Friday\u2019s fourth quarter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One potential issue is the Knicks are wearing down the 76ers. Philadelphia doesn\u2019t have much depth to speak of, and the Knicks go deep into their bench.<\/p>\n

Maxey, for instance, is averaging 40.4 minutes in the postseason, Edgecombe is at 37.7 and George is at 36.7.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, fatigue is a factor. But fatigue\u2019s a factor for every team this late in the season,\u201d Edgecombe said. \u201cIf you want to win, that shouldn\u2019t matter. We\u2019ve just been missing wide-open shots.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 It has been 24 minutes of ugly offensive basketball for the 76ers, two fourth quarters in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3769],"tags":[679,7,3279,936,304,6,6724,678,207,3817,8796],"class_list":["post-730409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia-76ers","tag-76ers","tag-basketball","tag-edgecombe","tag-joel-embiid","tag-knicks","tag-nba","tag-nick-nurse","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-philadelphia76ers","tag-the-76ers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116548806606181450","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}