NEW YORK — The Philadelphia 76ers returned to practice with the sting of a 39-point loss to the New York Knicks fresh on their minds and their coach briefly absent from a Tuesday morning film session as Nick Nurse traveled to his native Iowa for the funeral of his brother, Steve, who died unexpectedly at 62. Nurse said he planned to reconvene with staff and would “certainly have to watch a bunch of film,” but his availability for Wednesday night’s Game 2 at Madison Square Garden does not appear to be in question.
The immediate lesson from the tape, Nurse said, was a defensive breakdown late in the first quarter that set the tone for the rout. “I just thought towards the end of the first, that six straight mid pick-and-rolls were just too easy. It wasn’t challenged,” Nurse said. The Knicks’ Jalen Brunson exploited that gap, finishing with 35 points in 31 minutes on 18 shots and steering the sequence that opened a runaway margin.
Players who watched Tuesday’s session echoed Nurse’s focus on fundamentals. VJ Edgecombe, one of the primary defenders tasked with containing Brunson, said the correction starts with ball pressure. “It starts on the ball. I think just guarding the ball, guarding your yard,” Edgecombe said. The Sixers' film work will center on better on-ball positioning, getting around screens and preventing the wide-open threes and the occasional dunk that compounded New York’s early surge.
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Nurse and his staff briefly used a deliberate fouling tactic to try to blunt the Knicks’ momentum — sending Justin Edwards to hazard free throws on backup center Mitchell Robinson, a 40.8 percent shooter from the line this season. Edwards fouled Robinson on consecutive possessions and Robinson missed four free throws, a stopgap that slowed New York for a short stretch. Nurse suggested he could rotate the intentional fouler in future games so no single bench player accrues too many fouls. A substitution wrinkle underscored how tightly the Sixers were managing those minutes: Dalen Terry stood up, removed his warmups and briefly headed for the scorer’s table before sitting back down when New York brought in rookie center Ariel Hukporti.
Beyond tactics, the Sixers are leaning on a vocal bench group that has emerged as a connective force for the roster. Tyrese Maxey lauded the so-called “Bench Mob” after Philadelphia’s Game 7 win in Boston and again after Monday’s loss, naming Kyle Lowry, Trendon Watford, Jabari Walker, Terry and Johni Broome among the energizers. Trendon Watford tracked three-pointers each timeout, Maxey said, while Broome credited Lowry for setting a tone of engagement from the bench. “When we got down 3-1 quick, I think we tried to do everything we could to kind of get a lift,” Broome said, describing how the group’s energy helped spark a late-series comeback in the first round.
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With Game 2 looming, the Sixers’ urgent priorities are clear: tighten pick-and-roll defense, apply tougher on-ball pressure on Brunson and maintain the bench’s emotional lift while finding tactical answers to mitigate Robinson’s length. Nurse’s film review and possible strategic tweaks will set the tone for how Philadelphia tries to avoid a repeat collapse at Madison Square Garden.
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