Tight loss to Knicks stings, but Nurse and Embiid’s pride in Sixers is perfectly valid originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The lines about luck and fate and unknowable factors beyond the Sixers’ control were not especially compelling a year ago.
This time around, the Sixers couldn’t reach a Game 7 or get past Round 1, suffering a six-game, all-consuming series defeat to the Knicks. But the Sixers didn’t wilt as they had in humiliating, season-ending losses the last two postseasons to the Celtics and Heat, nor did they collapse and blow chance after chance to beat a decidedly less talented opponent like the 2021 Hawks.
In Nick Nurse’s first season as head coach, the Sixers played their part in a series stuffed with great games and lost it. The Knicks scored 650 total points and the Sixers scored 649.
“I just said that I was proud of them because I thought they fought,” Nurse said Thursday night following Game 6. “That’s all I’ve ever said. When we get out there, we’re going to fight no matter what the score is, if guys are out or injured. Whatever’s going on, we’ve got to go out there and fight. And they certainly did that in this series and for the majority of the season.”
Nurse always aims for high-effort, low-mistake basketball. By and large, his players were exemplary vs. the Knicks on the effort piece.
Joel Embiid averaged 33 points, 10.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.5 blocks while grinding through his latest miserable mix of playoff health issues, including Bell’s palsy. With the Sixers’ season teetering over a cliff, Tyrese Maxey somehow hauled it back to solid ground with his 46-point, ultra-clutch Game 5.
Cameron Payne shifted from out of Nurse’s rotation to draining jumpers and delighting the home crowd in Game 3. Buddy Hield did the same in Game 6. Nicolas Batum and Kyle Lowry lived up to their reputations as composed, quick-thinking veterans.
“We got better,” Lowry told reporters. “I think the guys in this locker room, they competed at a high level. The things Joel showed us in this series playing on one leg; Tyrese’s growth; (Kelly Oubre Jr.’s) toughness. I…
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