Throughout the first two games of this series the Knicks have been able to slow down the Sixers’ offense in a way they really hadn’t experienced in their first-round series against Boston. On top of the 4-of-19 shooting performance that sunk them in the fourth quarter of Game 2, they’ve really struggled to take care of the basketball.
It’s starts at the very top. After turning it over nine times throughout the entirety of the seven games against the Celtics, Tyrese Maxey has already given it away
10 times in the first two games against New York. VJ Edgecombe has given it away at a rate more expected for a rookie, but his four turnovers in Game 2 were just as costly.
With stops having come at such a premium for the Sixers, they haven’t been able to afford giving away free possessions. The inability to “keep the scoreboard moving,” as Nick Nurse would put it, is what the difference was in Game 2. Live ball turnovers obviously compound the issue, giving the Knicks fast break opportunities. The Sixers conceded 23 points off their 18 turnovers in Game 2.
“They were active… they were blitzing some,” Nurse said after the game. “I think they got their hands on a couple, we made a couple mistakes on inbounds [passes.] That was certainly one negative of the game and then they turn those into points.”
To Nurse’s first point, the Knicks have thrown a lot of ball pressure at Maxey, especially in Game 2 with Joel Embiid sidelined. Maxey attributed New York’s double teams for their ability to turn him over, but also felt like he was trying to go too fast at times.
“They did a good job of kind of taking away certain passes that I like, like to make when I get trapped,” he said, “and then it was a couple times we didn’t just execute our trap offense.”
Maxey also said that he jammed his right pinky at some point in the second quarter, the same finger he sprained back in March, and that impacted his confidence dribbling around and splitting double teams.
With OG Anunoby’s upcoming status suddenly in doubt, those double teams on Maxey aren’t going anywhere. Neither are the immediate pinky concerns either — Maxey confirmed earlier in the playoffs he’ll have to wear a brace on it the rest of the season.
Something the Sixers will have to do away with though is unforced errors. A specific turnover Maxey and Edgecombe both got asked a lot about was an inbounds pass to no one. After a basket and a stop that had them up two, Edgecombe tried to get the ball in quick and to get the ball back with no one guarding him.
None of the other Sixers picked up on this and continued running the play, letting Edgecombe’s pass sail across the court and out of bounds on the other sideline.
“I was trying to run the play, and I just wasn’t looking,” Maxey said. “It happens.”
Miscommunications do happen, but the Sixers can afford them less and less as the stakes get higher. Another series deficit will be impossible to climb out of if they keep shooting themselves in the foot.
“We know we got to cut down on turnovers. That’s not who we are as a team,” Edgecombe said. “We all can protect the ball, pass the ball, so we just got to be more responsible with the ball.”
Now that they’ve played a game in this series without Embiid, they’ve seen how the Knicks will guard Maxey as the primary scoring threat.
“They just want someone else to beat them, regardless of who it is, just not Tyrese,” said Edgecombe. “I’m gonna do my part, create for everyone, and go from there.”
Now that the Sixers have seen how the Knicks will defend both versions of this team, it’s up to them to adjust accordingly.
