It hasn’t even been a week since the 76ers were crowned the kings of the world, the rulers of the Atlantic Division. For the first time, they had overcome a 3-1 deficit, and they did so against a Celtics team that had never blown such a playoff lead and had eliminated their eternal rival (their first playoff matchup dates back to 1953) every time they’d met since 1982. But the playoffs are unforgiving: games come fast, and teams often don’t know how close they are to heaven or hell, where the good news ends and the problems begin. Now, there’s no doubt: the 76ers also lost the opening game of their semifinal against the Knicks on their home floor (94-108) and now face a 3-0 deficit that no team has ever overcome in NBA history. That’s Chapter 162—the latest case of an impossible challenge that, for the 76ers, begins tomorrow. Hope is at rock bottom. Though it’s always like that for anyone stuck in that hole, I suppose.
But the truth is, the 76ers look exhausted, drained. Joel Embiid returned after missing Game 2 and looked exactly like what he is: a player who rushed back from an appendectomy and now adds ankle and hip issues to his list of problems. With minimal mobility and a lost shot, he was a shadow of the player who dominated—almost single-handedly—the entire outcome of the series against the Celtics. In this series (two games), he averages 16 points and 5 rebounds on 36% shooting, without a single three-pointer made. To make matters worse, the Xfinity Mobile Arena felt, despite his pleas to the contrary, like a sort of Madison Square Garden East (understandably) that he couldn’t stand.
Knicks fans traveled en masse the less than 150 miles separating the two cities. Among them were Spike Lee and Timothée Chalamet. As the game slipped away in the fourth quarter, the familiar chants from neighboring New York grew louder. And it was likely Knicks fans, too, who booed a helpless, shut-down Embiid. Better to think that.
But it wasn’t just Embiid, of course, though the Cameroonian will always be the face of both the disasters (and the joys, like the one a few days ago in Boston—the biggest in recent years) of a project that is once again about to fall short of an Eastern Conference finals—a stage the 76ers haven’t reached since 2001. Barring a miracle, this will be their eighth semifinal loss since then. Tyrese Maxey was far below what his team needs from him, far from his superstar version. The Knicks focus their defensive attention on him, and with an excellent job by Mikal Bridges on the first line of containment, they’ve knocked him out of the blistering rhythm that dismantled the Celtics. With him neutralized, the weight of the best minutes—in a promising start (9-0 opening run, +12 in the first quarter)—fell on Paul George, who scored 15 points on 6/9 shooting in that first period… and then nothing (0/9 afterward). Another one of those disappearances from a player who, like Embiid, clearly feels the toll of the effort, the accumulation of playoff games (ten already), almost every minute in a do-or-die format. As if they’re no longer young enough for this.
Additionally, the 76ers’ bench didn’t contribute a single point until the fourth quarter (11 total), and Kelly Oubre Jr., not the most beloved player by the local fans, was at times the main support for a team that relies heavily on its three stars and a supporting cast that, in this series, has offered far too little.
