The Philadelphia 76ers suffered a crushing defeat to the New York Knicks in Recreation 2 of their Japanese Convention Playoffs sequence, 104-101. They led by 5 factors with 30 seconds remaining, however nonetheless discovered a approach to lose.
To not fear, Sixers followers. Celebrity middle Joel Embiid claims that they’re going to win the sequence as a result of they’re the higher workforce.
Joel Embiid, on how his workforce can bounce again from this loss:
“We’re good. We’re going to win this sequence.
“We’re going to win this. We all know what we received to repair. We did a greater job at the moment, so we’re going to repair it.
“We’re the higher workforce. We’ll hold combating.”
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) April 23, 2024
First off, the loss was completely debilitating. The Sixers erased a 7-point fourth quarter deficit to guide by 5 factors with below 30 seconds remaining. However, an epic collapse, aided by the officers swallowing their whistle, allowed the Knicks to steal sport 2.
That’s only a horrible approach to lose if you happen to’re the Philadelphia 76ers. Had they held on, they might’ve swung residence courtroom benefit again to Philadelphia by stealing a street sport. As a substitute, they now should play a must-win sport on Thursday again within the Metropolis of Brotherly Love. An NBA workforce has by no means received a sequence by which they trailed 3-0.
That being mentioned, Embiid claims the Sixers are higher. However, are they? Proper now they’re down 2-0, and Knicks famous person guard Jalen Brunson is 16-55 from the ground for the sequence. Their opponent is principally getting nothing out of their finest participant, and so they’re nonetheless profitable.
A part of that’s due to nice protection the Sixers are taking part in on Brunson. Head Coach Nick Nurse is successfully utilizing size to protect him. However, he’s going to play higher in some unspecified time in the future within the sequence. If you happen to’re not profitable when he’s taking part in poorly, it’s robust to win when he’s taking part in properly.
That being mentioned, if the Sixers win the subsequent two at residence, it’s a brand new sequence heading again to New York. However, I wouldn’t be as positive as Joel Embiid is.