3 biggest takeaways for Sixers following tough Game 2 loss to Knicks

Ky Carlin, Sixers WireThu, May 7, 2026 at 9:31 AM UTC

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NEW YORK -- The Philadelphia 76ers fought hard on Wednesday night as they gave the New York Knicks everything they could handle in Game 2 without Joel Embiid on the floor, but ultimately, it wasn't enough. The Knicks walked out of Madison Square Garden with a 108-102 win as the Sixers find themselves in an 0-2 hole.

Tyrese Maxey had 26 points and six assists, Paul George added 19 points, four rebounds, and four assists, Kelly Oubre Jr. had 19 points and five rebounds, and VJ Edgecombe had 17 and five rebounds, and Quentin Grimes added seven points.

Here are the three biggest takeaways following the loss:

Turnovers stand out

The Sixers committed 18 turnovers on the night with six coming from Maxey and four coming from Edgecombe. That is a recipe for disaster when considering the Knicks still shot the ball well at 51% from the floor--down from the 63.1% they shot in Game 1--and the Sixers were unable to really find that offensive rhythm with the turnover issues from the guards. Obviously, the Knicks sent them a ton of attention with various blitzes and traps, but at the end of the day, the Sixers cannot turn the ball over at that clip and expect to win the game.

“They were active, you saw them, they were blitzing some," said coach Nick Nurse. "I think they got their hands on a couple, made a couple mistakes on inbounds as well. That certainly was one negative in the game, and they turned them into points, pretty good. Kind of the difference in the game was the turnovers and points off turnovers was one of the differences for sure. Saying that, I thought our guys did a really good job of making the right reads. I thought we passed the ball good. The assist numbers were a little down, but they should be up. I thought we had maybe four wide-open shots in a row that didn’t go. We needed to keep the scoreboard moving. We played great offense, we just didn't shot make.”

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Fourth quarter struggles

To the point Nurse just made, the Sixers struggled mightily in the fourth as the Knicks were able to handle business. Philadelphia played solid defensively as it held the Knicks to just 19 points in the fourth, but the Sixers themselves shot 4-for-19 in the final frame and could only muster up 12 points. Knicks star Jalen Brunson scored eight points in the fourth as he was able to shake free and lead New York to the 2-0 lead. The Sixers had plenty of open looks, but they couldn't convert as they struggled to find the rhythm they needed to rally. Maxey and George, in particular, struggled as they combined to shoot 2-for-12 in the fourth.

"Good looks," said George. "I thought we just ran out of gas. We got a little flat, and yeah, I mean, we got some pretty good looks for the most part. We just did not knock them down in the fourth.”

Going to Dominick Barlow

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 06: Jalen Brunson #11 of the New York Knicks has the ball stolen by Dominick Barlow #25 and V. J. Edgecombe #77 of the Philadelphia 76ers during the fourth quarter in Game Two of the Second Round of the NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on May 06, 2026 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images)

With Embiid sidelined, obviously, Nurse had to make some adjustments to his rotations. The Sixers went mainly to Adem Bona and Andre Drummond, but when Bona got into foul trouble and the Knicks went with a smaller group, Nurse decided to make a big change and go to Barlow at the center spot and give him some run at that position. The Barlow minutes were good as he had six points and two blocks along with two rebounds in 16 minutes of playing time.

“There were a number of things," Nurse said of his decision to go to Barlow. "I thought Bona was impacting the game, especially early with the rim protection. He got in foul trouble. They went small. So there were a couple of factors to at least get out there and look at it. We thought we could switch a little bit more, too, with him. We had a couple of breakdowns on that. We played good enough defense to win that game, especially in the fourth. Held them to 19 in the fourth, you have to hope you can score more than 20 in a quarter."

This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: 3 biggest takeaways for Sixers following tough Game 2 loss to Knicks

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