Sixers discuss where they missed Joel Embiid, James Harden in loss
PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers know what they were up against when they took on the New York Knicks at home. They were down both Joel Embiid and James Harden and they were unable to overcome that in a 106-104 loss to the Knicks at home.
Philadelphia’s offensive execution in the fourth quarter was bad, to put it lightly, as they shot just 27.3% in the quarter. They also shot just 3-for-13 from deep and Tyrese Maxey shot 1-for-7 while De’Anthony Melton was just 1-for-5. The Sixers also committed six turnovers in the final quarter.
“Well, they went small and they start switching everything and we stopped attacking,” said coach Doc Rivers. “We stopped trusting. I thought we did a great job of drawing and kicking. They’re a help defensive team. We did that for three quarters and the fourth quarter, I thought we tried to hold on to the game and hold on to the ball and it cost us.”
In a league where closers are the whole rage, the Sixers missed both Embiid and Harden in that department.
“I think for us, obviously what James out, Joel out, it was one of those things where we really didn’t know what we needed to get into to get some quality looks on the offensive end,” said Tobias Harris. “I think when I watch the film and when we watch the film tomorrow, we’ll see the different ways that we could have been better out there.”
Usually, the Sixers would just put the ball in either Embiid’s or Harden’s hands and then get out of the way. They didn’t have that option on Friday.
“End of games, you need closers,” Rivers added. “You really do and that’s where the Joel and the Hardens come into play. When you don’t have them, you have to try to make plays, and that’s basically what we were doing.”
The Sixers will now have two days off before hosting the Phoenix Suns on Monday.
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Tyrese Maxey, Sixers explain what went wrong late in loss to Knicks
