Joel Embiid played in all but four minutes of the second half in Game 4. The 76ers still lost to the Knicks.
“He was feeling good and wanted to go,” Nurse said. “All these games are all must-win and we didn’t have a very good stretch when he was out in the first half. So, we were willing to continue on.”
The Sixers lost the four minutes Embiid sat by six points. Philly’s only points in that stretch came on free throws from Tobias Harris. Embiid, as he often does, said he simply wanted to be there for his team.
“Your competitive nature is always going to take over,” Embiid said, “and I felt that they always come back in the game in this series. So I was like, ‘I got nothing to lose. I just gotta push myself.’ Obviously, it didn’t work out the way I wanted to. But like I said, it’s whatever it takes to win.”
Joel Embiid plays entire 2nd half in 76ers’ Game 4 loss to Knicks
Typically, the 76ers rotation has Embiid play the whole first and third quarters and then sub him in when there are between eight and six minutes left in the half. That pattern remained intact in the first half as Embiid came in for the struggling Paul Reed after just four minutes. But in the second half, the only breaks Embiid had were the stoppages in play.
Given the desperation of already trailing the series 2-1 and how awful the Sixers have been without Embiid throughout the entire series, leaving Embiid in made some sense. But it clearly did not work out for the 76ers.
Embiid was unable to score a field goal in the fourth quarter. Although much of that was because of the Knicks’ stifling defense that denied him the ball and forced him into tough, end-of-shot-clock attempts, zero field goals for the reigning MVP just cannot happen. He wasted one of his few clean opportunities by smoking a layup and couldn’t overcome the aggressive defense from the undersized OG Anunoby.
The Sixers are to blame for being so helpless when Embiid sits. The organization on offense goes kaput and they aren’t able to compensate on defense. Nurse has had months to find a configuration of players who could play passably without Embiid and has not been able to do it. It’s a failure that falls heavily on him and his staff plus lead front-office executive Daryl Morey, whose roster looks much less deep than anticipated.
The 76ers will try to avoid a sweep in Game 5 on Tuesday.
