{"id":194119,"date":"2026-05-08T15:59:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T19:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=194119"},"modified":"2026-05-08T15:59:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T19:59:37","slug":"philadelphia-76ers-game-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/05\/08\/philadelphia-76ers-game-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The Philadelphia 76ers Need A New Strategy For Game 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many did not see the Philadelphia 76ers as a playoff team<\/a> to begin with. The Sixers finished the season as the seventh seed, securing a playoff spot with a Play-In Tournament win over the Orlando Magic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite the odds being against them, the Sixers overcame a 3-1 deficit against the Boston Celtics<\/a> to advance to the second round.<\/p>\n

However, Game 1 against the New York Knicks didn’t go according to plan. Despite Joel Embiid<\/a> playing, the Knicks ran away with a 39-point blowout<\/a>. Four of New York’s players put up at least 15 points, with Jalen Brunson<\/a> scoring a team-high 35. Philadelphia, on the other hand, had 19 turnovers, with their largest lead of the game being just three points.<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia 76ers Need A New Strategy For Game 3<\/h2>\n

Embiid’s absence in Game 2 proved to be inconsequential for the Sixers, with the team keeping the game close, holding a one-point lead by halftime.<\/p>\n

However, with 3:46 left in the fourth quarter, Brunson made a fadeaway mid-range shot to put the Knicks up by four. Roughly a minute later, with 2:56 left, Mikal Bridges<\/a> hit a step-back fadeaway midrange jumper to give New York a six-point lead.<\/p>\n

Despite a quick layup by Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey<\/a>, free throws by Brunson and Miles McBride<\/a> maintained the Knicks’ six-point lead. With 20 seconds remaining, Maxey missed a go-ahead three-pointer, which killed any chance of a Sixers comeback.<\/p>\n

So what are some key takeaways from these early games in the series?<\/p>\n

A Rough Fourth Quarter<\/h3>\n

Game 2’s fourth quarter wasn’t easy for either team. However, it was particularly hard on the Sixers, who scored just 12 points. It was their third-least-efficient quarter<\/a> of the entire season.<\/p>\n

The Sixers notably turned up their defense in the final frame of Game 2. This was in part due to the team missing their big men.<\/p>\n

Embiid was ruled out<\/a> with a right ankle sprain and right hip soreness. Meanwhile, Andre Drummond<\/a> and Adem Bona<\/a> played just 15 and 16 minutes, respectively — mostly due to foul trouble.<\/p>\n

To replace Bona after his fifth foul in the third quarter, the Sixers played Dominick Barlow<\/a> at center. Paul George<\/a> took on Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a> and was able to force two turnovers from the big man.<\/p>\n

While some of their defensive lapses can be chalked up to late-game fatigue and a short rotation, the Sixers’ defense will be key if they want to take Game 3. As we saw Wednesday, the team had a great offensive night. However, late-game defense, particularly on capable scorers such as Brunson and Bridges, will be essential to keep themselves in the game.<\/p>\n

Replicable Offense?<\/h3>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

The Sixers’ offense has been all over the place in the first two games of the series. Not a single Philadelphia player scored over 20 points in Game 1. On the other hand, despite a smaller rotation and more minutes for available players, four different Sixers had at least 17 points in Game 2.<\/p>\n

Evidently, the sample size is too small to determine how the Sixers’ offense will play out in Game 3. However, some of their players cannot be counted out.<\/p>\n

While his efficiency certainly declined in Game 2, George has scored 17 and 19 points in the Sixers’ first two games. Many of George’s Game 2 misses came from behind the arc, where he attempted a whopping 13 shots, making five. Additionally, he did not shoot well late into the contest. George and Sixers rookie guard, VJ Edgecombe<\/a>, shot a combined 0-9 from the field. Maxey, on the other hand, shot 2-8.<\/p>\n

However, alongside Edgecombe’s performance, Kelly Oubre Jr<\/a>‘s offensive contributions were critical for Philadelphia Wednesday. He tallied 19 points while shooting 6-12 from the field and 3-6 from deep.<\/p>\n

Overall, the Sixers’ Game 2 offense was a really solid team effort. This is something that the Sixers will have to replicate tonight. Additionally, George and Maxey — particularly the latter — will have to limit their turnovers and improve their efficiency to allow Philly to take Game 3 at home.<\/p>\n

The Corner Three Ball<\/h3>\n

The Sixers began Game 2 red hot, shooting 5-6 on corner threes in the first quarter. They found themselves with these looks as the Knicks began to blitz the pick-and-roll<\/a> set for Maxey.<\/p>\n

The Knicks blitzed the ball screen on just three possessions in Game 1, per NBA.com’s John Schuhmann. However, the Knicks blitzed 41% of the ball screens out of the 41 total set for Maxey in Game 2. This led to some good looks for the Sixers.<\/p>\n

However, whenever Maxey was blitzed in the fourth quarter in Game 2, the guard continued moving toward the strong side corner. A defender was usually close by in these situations, and this practically extinguished any advantages that the Sixers could create by passing the ball to the corner.<\/p>\n

The Sixers — particularly Maxey, who mostly brings up the ball for the team — will have to be more patient when reading the floor. Some of these hasty decisions likely led to the Sixers’ less-than-ideal looks in the fourth quarter in Game 2.<\/p>\n

The Last Word On Sixers vs Knicks Game 3<\/h3>\n

Managing fatigue and minutes will be important for Sixers head coach Nick Nurse in Game 3. The Sixers will be undermanned, with Embiid currently questionable for the contest<\/a>. Ultimately, it will be up to players such as Maxey, Edgecombe, and George to shoulder the offensive burden and have strong performances for the Sixers to win Game 3, which tips off at 7 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many did not see the Philadelphia 76ers as a playoff team to begin with. The Sixers finished the season as the seventh seed, securing a playoff spot with a Play-In Tournament win over the Orlando Magic. Despite the odds being against them, the Sixers overcame a 3-1 deficit against the Boston Celtics to advance to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5724,"featured_media":194562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,13],"tags":[50432,341,1417,267,213,1484,50,2478,49644],"class_list":["post-194119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-76ers","tag-2026-nba-playoffs","tag-andre-drummond","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-joel-embiid","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-mikal-bridges","tag-paul-george","tag-tyrese-maxey","tag-vj-edgecombe"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5724"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194119"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":194570,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194119\/revisions\/194570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}