May 05, 2026
Brad Penner/Imagn Images
Joel Embiid and the Sixers had very little for the New York Knicks in Game 1.
NEW YORK – As the Sixers filed into Madison Square Garden for their pregame shootaround on Monday morning, one player began muttering the words "WE WANT BOSTON," almost as if it was a song stuck in their head.
And no matter what members of the team said or did, it was impossible for them to be all the way removed from what transpired on Saturday night at TD Garden, a dramatic Game 7 victory that sealed a 3-1 series comeback over the Boston Celtics, equally draining physically and mentally.
On Monday night, the Sixers learned the hard way that they no longer have Boston. They were outclassed by the New York Knicks in a Game 1 blowout, submitting an irredeemable performance that only produced one silver lining: head coach Nick Nurse's key players did not log heavy minutes.
Nobody will outwardly make an excuse in the NBA, and on Monday night nobody did. Between the postgame media availabilities of Nurse, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey and Paul George, something akin to the phrase "not an excuse" was used five different times. It was obvious watching the Sixers on Monday, though, that the massive physical and mental toll of their 3-1 series comeback to defeat the Boston Celtics was in play.
The good news?
"We lose by seven or 70, it doesn't really matter," Maxey said. "They won one game and we lost one game... Game 1 doesn't carry over to Game 2, and we'll be ready to play."
In the aftermath of another series-opening beatdown of the Sixers, this week's Sixers mailbag answers your questions about Game 1 and potential adjustments moving forward in the series:
From @vbeets.bsky.social: What parts of Game 1 concerned you least?
You name it, it went poorly for the Sixers on Monday night.
Their defense was brutal, particularly against Jalen Brunson operating in pick-and-roll offense. Their offense was stagnant at best; Maxey looked passive early and never found his way into the thick of it, Embiid missed a whole bunch of mid-range jumpers and nobody provided any semblance of a secondary scoring punch.
Of all of the problematic features of the Sixers' horrid performance, the one that feels least likely to repeat itself in Game 2 is Maxey's lack of aggression and production.
Game 1 represented just the second time in 2025-26 that Maxey attempted fewer than 10 shots in a game; his nine shot attempts tied one regular-season game for his season-low between the regular season and playoffs. His 13 points tied for third-lowest scoring total of the year.
One person who is not concerned: Maxey. He chuckled and smiled before answering a question about why he was not more assertive early in the game.
"I'm not too worried about it," Maxey said. "I'm an aggressive basketball player, so we'll figure it out. We'll see. I get a chance to go back and watch it and see how they were guarding us, and guarding pick-and-rolls, and guarding me in general, and all of us as a team. And I'm not too worried about it."
Among the issues that are much more alarming: Embiid and Andre Drummond both struggling mightily to defend Karl-Anthony Towns beyond the three-point line, Brunson's ability to dominate against an Embiid-centric drop coverage the Sixers tried to utilize against pick-and-rolls and Nurse's continued inability to rely on more than six players for considerable minutes.
It was truly an A-plus performance from New York; all five members of the Knicks' embattled starting five had optimal performances in their roles. Conversely, the Sixers clearly did not have their best. So while there are many ominous signs stemming from Monday's action, it is worth noting that the Sixers played a game that was just as lopsided to begin the Boston series. Every game, as Nurse began to point out midway through the first round, looks different than the one before it.
MORE: Game 7 hangover apparent as Sixers routed by Knicks in Game 1
From @bobbymkain: I know Bona picked up five fouls in a span of four minutes but thoughts on an Embiid and Adem Bona lineup to help in the paint?
If one thing seems clear, it is that Nurse needs at least one more player he can trust in a remotely meaningful way. But before Game 1, he was very much noncommittal when it came to expanding his rotation from where it was for much of the Boston series at about 7.5 players.
"I'm not sure," Nurse said. "You start a series and you want to see, like, who possibly can be in the rotation for a series... I've been through it before where a guy [had a] huge impact in one and didn't play in the other, come back and play in the next or whatever... I also think that – I don't know. If guys are feeling good and there's no foul trouble, I'm not sure, [the rotation] might be short again."
Bona could be an option to replace Drummond as Embiid's primary backup; his athleticism makes him a much better matchup for Towns. But Nurse is clearly much more confident in the veteran than the youngster, and Bona picking up five fouls in rapid succession during garbage time will not help his cause. Lineups with Bona and Embiid are intriguing, but it is hard to imagine given how little they were used in the regular season that it is high on the list of potential Nurse adjustments.
The more obvious one, from a rotational perspective, is probably to go back to Dominick Barlow, the Sixers' starting power forward for most of the year who thrived playing alongside Embiid. Barlow can handle the Towns assignment and allow Embiid to roam off of New York's three-point shooter who incites the least fear. He is a non-shooter, but at 6-foot-10 the Knicks could feel uncomfortable trying to hide Brunson on him, as he would sky over Brunson for offensive rebounds. The Sixers failed to exploit Brunson's significant weaknesses as a defender; he successfully hid on Kelly Oubre Jr. for most of the night.
So, in addition to Barlow giving the Sixers more athleticism, more depth and a better defensive alignment, he would also force Brunson to defend a perimeter player like VJ Edgecombe or Quentin Grimes. If it is the former, the Sixers will be in business.
The other primary option to play more was Nurse's eighth man in an extremely limited capacity: Justin Edwards. After Brunson pick-and-rolls led to baskets over and over, Nurse summoned Edwards and had him intentionally foul Mitchell Robinson twice in as many possessions. The gambit worked, as Robinson missed all four of his free throws before New York's offense went right back to a flow state once the two-minute mark of the quarter came and went.
Edwards knocked down two triples on Monday, and Nurse has always been an ardent supporter of the young wing. The ball seems to find Edwards, Nurse always says, pointing out that his strong feel for the game helps him become available for the quick-trigger threes he is comfortable with. Edwards is a willing defender, too, and while he is not elite on that end of the floor he is more than passable.
The reality: there is probably not a pathway to both Barlow and Edwards playing regularly in this series. But if just one of them could be a slightly useful player in small doses, it would go a long way.
MORE: From matchups to crowds, what to watch for in series vs. Knicks
