2024 NBA Playoffs: 3 adjustments for Sixers to bounce back vs Knicks

The Philadelphia 76ers are in astate of dilemma right now.

As Philadelphia enters Game 2 intheir best-of-7 series against the New York Knicks on the road atthe Madison Square Garden, it has them wondering for adjustmentsand key plays with hopes of tying the series.

Although Nick Nurse’s defensivescheme on the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson, his buddy Josh Hart happenedand knocked down three crucial three-pointers in the 4th quarter ofGame 1 to bury the Sixers. Brunson was held to 22 points on 8-26shooting, but Hart had 22 points himself as well.

That’s bad news for the Sixers.The Knicks star point guard have been playing at an all-NBA levelthis season thus far and it is clear that the game plan is to sendguys at Brunson for him to see bodies and make him work for hispoints. However, when someone else has a performance as big asHart’s in Game 1, that would be difficult for the Sixers toovercome.

On offense, Tyrese Maxeyshouldered most of the offensive load in the 4th quarter afterreigning MVP Joel Embiid injured his knee in the first half. Embiidcame to play in the second half, but was visibly not his usual selfphysically, missing his patented midrange jumpers and some layupsaround the basket. He ended up finishing the game with 29 pointsbut shot an abysmal 8-22 from the field. Maxey himself scored 33points but played a game-high 43 minutes for the game. This issomething the Sixers should monitor because as young and spry as heis, Maxey is essential for them down the stretch especially if thisextends down the line.

How could the Sixers bounceback? Heading into tonight’s Game 2 and moving forward into theseries, here are some of the things the Sixers could do to stealone on the road and possibly win the series.

Play Buddy Hieldmore

The Sixers’ midseasonacquisition only played for 10 minutes and did not score at all.That is uncharacteristic for someone you brought in for this exactreason: to have more weapons around Embiid in the playoffs.Although a defensive liability at times, Hield’s gravity as ashooter and threat from the outside is more than enough tocompensate for those.

Hield is a proven knockdownshooter who can only help space the floor for Embiid when he’s inthe middle of the floor. If given the opportunity and he hits hisshots, the paint will open up even more which will give Embiid andMaxey more room to operate.

“Buddy [Hield] didn’t get muchof a chance last game,” Nurse said on Sunday. “He did have a coupleof plays there. He didn’t play good. It’s a game where you can’textend minutes when a guy has three or four mistakes, but I do saythis he’ll be a factor in the series. He could have just as easilymade that wide-open 3, and then hit another one the next time downthe floor like he does, but he didn’t. We kind of gave him thischance to impact it and we had to get back to somebody else, buthe’ll be a factor.”

Involve Tobias Harris onmore offensive actions and build up hisconfidence

As it stands right now, TobiasHarris’ confidence has looked to be cooked and nowhere to be found.He has been playing out of sorts over the past few games,oftentimes getting lost in translation within the flow of theSixers offense at times. With Embiid demanding the ball and theattention most of the time and Maxey setting the offense up, thisleaves Harris with little to no opportunities to have any sort ofoffensive rhythm.

Harris is also not the roleplayer specialist like Kelly Oubre who brings defensive toughness,hits the occasional threes, and provides the timely cuts, or NicBatum’s lockdown one-on-one defense coupled with his three-pointmarksmanship. Harris is someone you make plays for to set him up.He has shown that capability over his career, being the thirdoption on offense. Harris’ skill set allows him to attack off thecatch, hit some catch-and-shoot threes here and there, and run somepick-and-rolls with certain guys.

If the Sixers want to have achance to bounce back in Game 2, Harris should be more involved onoffense no matter how Nick Nurse and his staff would do it. A30-million-dollar player like Harris can’t just camp in the corneror wings ball-watching and watch the ball come to him, he should beutilized in a way his strengths as a player can help theSixers.

Bench production is amust

In Game 1, the Sixers only had 5bench points. That can’t happen again. Even though they are downtwo key rotation players in DeAnthony Melton and Robert Covington,both the coaching staff and the players themselves need to do abetter job involving players on offense and stepping up to theplate. This is the playoffs and everyone has to contributesomething.

After scoring 20 points againstMiami, Batum only had 3 points in Game 1. Hield wasn’t even able toscore a point. Backup big Paul Reed has to be more aggressiveespecially now that Embiid is not 100%. Cam Payne has to hit one ortwo shots when he comes in, just to change the complexion of thegame a little bit. Maybe Nick Nurse could reach a bit deeper intohis bag of tricks and activate someone like Ricky Council for anenergy boost after the rookie played a good stretch to end theseason.

The bench has to help thestarters at some point in the series. But it has to start in Game 2– because it takes everyone to win a playoff basketballgame.