Who's Most to Blame for Sixers' Brutal Game 3 Loss vs. Knicks?

In retrospect, the Sixers needed to win Game 2 against the New York Knicks to have any chance of upsetting them in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

The Sixers had the lead for most of Game 2, but they ran out of gas late in the fourth quarter with Joel Embiid sidelined (hip, ankle). Embiid returned for Game 3, but he looked nowhere near like his usual self.

The Sixers stayed in striking distance for most of the night, but the Knicks finally broke the game open in the fourth quarter and pushed the Sixers to the brink of elimination. No team in NBA history has ever overcome a 3-0 series deficit, and with both Embiid and Tyrese Maxey nursing injuries, the Sixers aren't likely to be the first.

Before we look ahead to perhaps their final game of the season, let's assign some blame for the loss that effectively ended the Sixers' season.

1. The Sixers' owners

The Sixers' bench scored exactly zero points through the first three quarters of Game 3. In case you missed it, Jared McCain scored 18 points in 18 minutes for the Oklahoma City Thunder in their 125-107 win over the Luka Dončić-less Los Angeles Lakers.

As a reminder, the Sixers traded McCain to the Thunder in February for the No. 22 pick in the 2026 draft and three future second-round picks. In conjunction with an Eric Gordon salary dump, it also just so happened to get them far enough under the tax that they could pull off the rest of their in-season moves, including signing Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker to standard contracts with team options in 2026-27.

Here's the thing: The Sixers didn't have to duck the tax. They could have done the exact same thing with Barlow and Walker with the taxpayer mid-level exception. That would have hard-capped them at the second apron, but they were nowhere close to crossing it.

They got legitimate value for McCain, although the pressure is only ratcheting up on them to make good use of those picks. But trading him away without landing another rotation player made the Sixers worse this season.

The Sixers managed to overcome a 3-1 series deficit against the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs despite their disadvantage in terms of depth. Head coach Nick Nurse trusted only six players to play consistent minutes: the five starters and Quentin Grimes.

Andre Drummond, Adem Bona and Dominick Barlow played sparingly around those six, but Maxey, VJ Edgecombe and Paul George were all routinely playing 40-plus minutes per game. That seemingly caused them to run out of gas both in Games 2 and 3, as Nurse played only Barlow, Grimes and Drummond off the bench in Game 3 before waving the white flag with two minutes left.

It's a failure of the front office not to find a way to replace McCain at the trade deadline. Signing Cam Payne out of Europe does not count. And they're being punished for it accordingly now.

But who do you think gave them the marching orders to duck the tax in the first place?

2. Tyrese Maxey

After Game 2, Maxey told reporters that he jammed the finger and didn't "feel confident dribbling around a lot of the traps like I normally do." One can only imagine the same held true two days later.

Maxey was uncommonly passive in Game 3. He finished with only 17 points despite shooting 8-of-12 from the field, and he did not attempt a single free throw.

Stan Van Gundy, one of the commentators for Amazon Prime, was losing his mind at how much Maxey wasn't even looking at the basket in the fourth quarter. He helped generate a bunch of open shot attempts after swing-swing passes, nearly all of which the Sixers bricked.

It's unclear how much of Maxey's struggles are due to his finger injury vs. the Knicks' defense. Either way, the version of Maxey who showed up in Game 3 had the Sixers drawing dead, particularly with Embiid nowhere near 100%.

3. Paul George

George got off to a scorching start with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting (including 3-of-4 from three-point range) in the first quarter of Game 3.

Those were the final points he'd score in the game. George went 0-of-9 over the final three quarters.

According to Mike Lynch of Sports Reference, no player over the past 30 seasons scored more points in the first quarter of a playoff game before going scoreless for the rest of the game than George's 15. Prior to Friday, Jason Kidd held the record with 14 from his time with the then-New Jersey Nets in 2003.

With OG Anunoby sidelined, it wasn't surprising that George got off to a hot start. His ensuing cold streak, however, came at a time when the Sixers could least afford it.

4. Quentin Grimes

Remember when Quentin Grimes and his agent reportedly hoped he'd get a contract worth $25 million per year last offseason? He'd be lucky to get even half of that as an unrestricted free agent this year.

Heading into Friday, Grimes was averaging 6.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 22.8 minutes per game across nine playoff games. That's a far cry from the 13.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 29.4 minutes per game that he averaged during the regular season.

It quickly became apparent that head coach Nick Nurse trusted only the starters and Grimes in the playoffs, although Grimes might have earned his spot out of necessity. Being the most trustworthy player off this Sixers bench is an incredibly low bar to clear, after all.

Some team might be willing to overlook Grimes' quiet playoff performance and still throw him the full $15.0 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception this offseason. That's seeming more and more like his ceiling rather than his floor, though.

5. Joel Embiid

Embiid missed Game 2 with both right hip and ankle injuries. He returned in Game 3 and gutted through the injuries, but he looked nowhere near himself on either end of the floor.

The Knicks had zero fear of going right at Embiid on defense, and they weren't all that concerned about defending him on offense outside the paint. They openly conceded threes to him—he went 0-of-4 from deep—and he even missed a few foul-line jumpers that are typically automatic for him.

After the game, Nurse told reporters that Embiid gave the Sixers "everything he could" on Friday. While his desire to go out on a shield is admirable, the Sixers arguably looked better without him in Game 2 until they ran out of steam late in the game.

No team has ever overcome a 3-0 series deficit. The Sixers aren't likely to be the first. Embiid, the medical staff and the front office need to have a brutally honest talk between now and Sunday about whether it makes sense for him to continuing battling through his injuries.

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Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.

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