Final Score: Sixers 125 Knicks 114
Series Score after result: New York lead 2-1
Embiid’s stat line: 50 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 13-of-19 FGs, 5-of-7 3PTs, 1 block, +16 rating
It was a game the Sixers had to have. After a couple of hard-fought losses in New York to open the first-round series against the Knicks, including a controversial Game 2 loss, Philadelphia returned home with its backs against the wall.
For the most part, the first two games of the series followed a similar script. The two teams
appeared to be evenly matched, but New York was winning on the margins enough to pull through in tight games. The Knicks appeared to be the hungrier team at Madison Square Garden, getting to more loose balls than the Sixers and doing a better job of creating second chances on offense. The first two quarters of Game 3 were similar in that regard. New York led by two points after the first 12 minutes and by three points at halftime. Embiid appeared to be on his way to another strong stat line, with 17 points at intermission.
But Philly’s star player had 34 points in Game 2 and 29 points in Game 1 and the Sixers fell short in both games. Sensing the gravity of the moment, Embiid raised his level in the third quarter when Game 3 resumed. In just the third quarter alone, he more than doubled his 17 points in the first half, playing all 12 minutes of the period and scoring 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting in the quarter and a stellar 4-of-4 from the three-point line. Suddenly a three-point halftime deficit turned into a 13-point lead at the end of the third.
Embiid was sending a message that the Sixers were not going down without a fight against one of their bitter rivals. One of his many strengths is his free-throw shooting ability which is better than most seven footers. Embiid went 12-of-13 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter and the Sixers coasted to an 11-point win and trimmed New York’s lead to 2-1 in the best-of-seven opening round series.
The Knicks would go on to win two of the next three and close the series out in six games. But this was very much a back-and-forth series that could have gone either way. Ultimately, the narrative that New York was a little hungrier than the Sixers and willing to go the extra mile and make more hustle plays did win out. But Philly was competitive in every game of this six-game series loss and the Game 3 win for the Sixers was the only game of the six in the series that was decided by double digits.
It’s interesting to look back on this series from 2024 now that we have the additional knowledge of the Sixers getting swept in this past postseason by the Knicks. Perhaps Embiid’s stronger play in 2024 compared to 2026 against New York can simply be attributed to the fact that the 2024 series came one round earlier. Much has been made about Embiid’s body being unable to hold up into the spring for the Sixers to make a deep playoff run with him in the starting lineup.
These two series against the Knicks are a good reason as to why. Don’t forget that Embiid had been out for a good chunk of the second half of the regular season leading up to the 2024 postseason with a knee injury that he sustained in January in San Francisco in a game against the Warriors on Jan. 30. Embiid returned to game action on April 2 and appeared in five regular season games before the postseason began.
I’m not suggesting that the knee injury was a good thing for Embiid. It played a big role in a lost 2024-25 season for the big man. However, recovering from the knee injury and ramping back up for the first half of April before the postseason started, probably allowed him to be more productive against the Knicks than had he been playing 35-40 minutes a night on a regular basis in February and March.
Admittedly, in February and March of this past season, Embiid’s playing time was a bit scattered anyway, but it was clear by the time the Sixers got to the second round of the playoffs that he was running out of gas and the team still needed 12 more victories to win the NBA championship. Stamina and endurance are always going to be questions with Embiid come the spring, but it’s worth reminding you that we’re still less than three years removed from his playoff career high.
