May 09, 2026
PHILADELPHIA – At 10:40 p.m. on Friday night, Joel Embiid winced and groaned at his locker as he slowly changed out of his uniform.
Embiid, back on the floor for the Sixers' Game 3 loss to the New York Knicks, defied the odds and injuries last week and pulled off the greatest feat of his playoff career, leading the Sixers back from a 3-1 deficit to eliminate the Boston Celtics in the first round. But against New York he has missed one game and been a shell of himself in two, with extremely limited mobility and constant pain. He shot 7-for-17 in a loss that put the Sixers on the brink of elimination, facing a 3-0 series deficit no NBA team has ever overcome.
As Embiid winced and groaned, Tyrese Maxey walked as slowly as he could from the showers to his locker. Maxey, who returned from a finger injury earlier than expected near the end of March and has played with a splint for about six weeks since, is not himself. After a dazzling series against Boston in which he busted every coverage and took care of the ball, he has been flustered by New York's length, failed to find pockets of the game to take over and committed careless turnovers. He is exhausted, too; after logging 41.0 minutes per game in the first round he has played 91 out of a possible 96 minutes between Game 2 and Game 3 – both losses.
A bit later, Paul George sat at his locker as Sixers staffers wrapped both of his knees. George has resuscitated his ability to have a star-level impact on games since serving a 25-game suspension earlier in the season; the nine-time All-Star has said that the time off was exactly what his body needed after an extremely underwhelming first year and change in Philadelphia. George had another blistering start for the Sixers in Game 3, knocking down six of his nine shot attempts in the first quarter. He shot 0-for-9 for the remainder of the game, his second straight outing with a hot start and a rough close.
Embiid, Maxey and George, whose three salaries for the 2025-26 season are nearly worth as much as the salary cap for the league year on their own, have been completely outperformed through three games by Jalen Brunson, New York's superstar point guard on the verge of leading his team to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second consecutive season.
There is no question that the Sixers' shaky depth has been challenged and exposed in this series. Knicks head coach Mike Brown enjoys having a circle of trust much larger than that of Sixers head coach Nick Nurse. But Brown's best players are playing their best basketball at the best time. Embiid, Maxey and George, after doing so much to get the Sixers to the second round, do not look up to the task.
Becoming the 14th team to win a series after trailing 3-1 was historic for the Sixers; no team in franchise history had accomplished that feat and it was a complete shock in the NBA world. But becoming the first time to win a series it trailed 3-0 is a completely different story – particularly given all of the signs that this team is running out of gas.
"You get in a situation like this, all you can do is try to get the next one and then see what happens," Nurse said. "I mean, I know that's pretty obvious, but if you can get one, it turns to 3-1 pretty quick, right? And you don't have to think about it being 3-0 anymore. But we're going to have to really dig in and regroup and make some adjustments and do things better."
Then, Nurse pointed out the Sixers' shortcomings in a game they needed to win. They wasted an electric opening to the game by faltering on the defensive glass – again – and struggled to contain ball-handlers – again. Both have been issues all season long, particularly the rebounding. Both issues were ones the Sixers found ways to temporarily fix in their final three games against the Celtics. Now, they would need an even more stunning effort to avoid their season ending at the hands of the same team which sent them packing two seasons ago.
The Sixers have become a confident bunch; they will tell you they always were one, but they have been more vocal about it since they got rolling against Boston. But the harsh reality awaiting them appeared to be registering in the immediate aftermath of their 108-94 loss.
"S**t, win a game," George said when asked about his message to the team heading into Game 4 on Sunday afternoon. Maxey talked about the importance of playing with "pride." Embiid, clearly frustrated as he manages both of his knees, his ankle and his hip – all a month removed from an emergency appendectomy – did not want to speak all that much in response to most of the questions he was asked.
In the span of six days last week, the Sixers went from appearing dead in the water to having the look of a team that could seriously compete deep into the playoffs. And six days after their Game 7 triumph in Boston, they fell flat at home, watching and listening as visiting fans took over their arena. They are once again on the ropes. Time will tell if they have another jaw-dropping comeback in them.
"Just take it one game at a time," Embiid said. "...This is tougher [than the comeback against Boston]. So just going in, understanding that we can't get it all back in one game. So win one, focus on the next one, win the next one. That should be the mentality. That's the mentality we had last week. So just got to have that belief that you can [do it]."
