Sixers’ season ends in 118-115 Game 6 loss to Knicks despite Joel Embiid’s 39 points

The 76ers kept giving their fans hope.

Even after posting their worst regular-season winning percentage in seven seasons, there was belief the Sixers could make a deep postseason run. Joel Embiid’s return from knee surgery was supposed to make them tough to beat.

But in reality, while they might have been better with him, they just weren’t good enough to get out of the first round. On Thursday night, they suffered a 118-115 loss to the New York Knicks in Game 6 at the Wells Fargo Center.

The game wasn’t decided until Buddy Hield missed a three-pointer right before the final buzzer.

“Yeah, this is disappointing,” Tobias Harris said. “It would have been great to see this group healthy all year. It’s tough when you are trying to put it together at the last minute like we were with big fella back. But I still thought we had the talent in this locker room. It just didn’t work out for us.”

Knicks All-Star and former Villanova standout Jalen Brunson finished with game highs of 41 points and 12 assists. Brunson scored 14 points in the fourth quarter. Knicks forward Josh Hart, another former Villanova standout, added 16 points, 14 rebounds, and seven assists. Seven of his rebounds came in the fourth quarter. So did his game-deciding three-pointer to break an 111-111 tie.

» READ MORE: The Sixers landed on wrong side, but they fought against the Knicks — and officials — in an epic Game 6

Embiid paced the Sixers with 39 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out with 11.1 seconds left. Hield was the Sixers’ second-leading scorer with 20 points. Tyrese Maxey and Kelly Oubre Jr. had 17 points each. Nico Batum added 16 points. Meanwhile, Harris failed to score on 0-for-2 shooting in what might be his last game in a Sixers uniform.

Unlike Game 5, the power forward was relegated to standing in the corner, waiting for the ball instead being in the dunker position or cutting to the basket. His 29 minutes, 20 seconds of action marked the fewest minutes he played this series. In a key fourth quarter, Harris was only on the court 2:54 while Hield got the bulk of his minutes.

Asked about his role in Game 6, Harris responded, “no comment.”

This loss concluded seven straight postseason appearances by the Sixers. Of the seven, this was the second time they failed to advance beyond the first round. They were swept by the Boston Celtics in the opening round in 2020. The Sixers suffered second-round exits in the five other finishes.

Thursday’s loss dropped them to 46-51 in games when facing elimination.

The only difference from the past six early exits was the emergence of Maxey and having Nick Nurse as the head coach.

“It sucks to lose,” Embiid said. “The goal is to win a championship. Anytime that doesn’t happen, that’s all I care about. I don’t care if I got to the second round. That does not mean anything to me. We just didn’t accomplish what we wanted to.

“The thing is we believe in ourselves so much that we believe that we actually could have won it. But everything didn’t go the way we wanted it to.”

On this night, the Sixers battled back from a 22-point first-quarter deficit and built a 10-point cushion of their own. The game was decided in the final seconds, as it has been the case most of the series.

Maxey knotted the score at 111 on a three-point play with 34.9 seconds remaining. The Knicks called timeout before Hart was left wide open and buried a three-pointer on an assist from Brunson to give New York a 114-111 lead with 24.4 ticks left.

After the Sixers used their final timeout, Embiid scored to close the gap to one. However, he picked up his sixth foul and was disqualified from the game on the ensuing possession. Donte DiVincenzo, whom Embiid fouled, made a pair of foul shots to put the Knicks up, 116-113.

Maxey and Brunson exchanged two foul shots each as the Knicks led 118-115 with 7.7 seconds left. New York escaped after Hield missed before the buzzer.

Hield was Embiid’s unlikely sidekick on this night.

He scored 17 points while making 5-of-7 three-pointers in the second quarter. It was his first game action since the first quarter of Game 3.

Hield and Batum provided the spark the Sixers needed on a night Harris and Kyle Lowry were both held scoreless.

This was one of Embiid’s best games as he flashed mobility that has been rare since returning from left knee surgery. He sprinted up the floor several times and sealed Isaiah Hartenstein on his way to post baskets.

Embiid scored the Sixers’ first nine points on 3-for-4 shooting. At the time, his teammates were shooting 0-for-7. Nurse called a timeout with his team down, 28-9, with 4 minutes, 1 second left in the first quarter.

After the timeout, Maxey scored the first non-Embiid basket. But the Knicks jumped out a 33-11 lead after Josh Hart’s three-pointer with 2:22 left in the quarter.

Trailing 36-22 in the second quarter, the Sixers brought in Hield. It was a gutsy move by Nurse, considering Hield was benched after failing to score on 0-for-2 shooting during a 3-minute, 57-second stint off the bench in the first quarter of the Sixers’ 125-114 Game 3 victory. At that time, he was shooting 1-for-7 — including 0-for-4 from three — in the best-of-seven series. Hield even blew two layups the exact same way in Games 1 and 2.

At times, the 6-foot-4, 220-pounder looked afraid to shoot and passed up scoring opportunities he would have previously seized. But he definitely wasn’t afraid of the moment in Game 6.

“I was looking for any warm bodies over there that could keep up with the speed of the game at the point,” Nurse said of inserting Hield on Thursday. “The game was moving fast and we were quite moving with it. Obviously, he gave us a huge lift.

“And it’s good. We kind of worked on some stuff this morning that we were going to use him and put him in some scenarios. It was nice to see him respond.”

Hield hit three huge three-pointers during the Sixers’ 29-10 run to close the gap to two points (43-41) with 4:44 left in the half.

Then the sharpshooter drained his fourth three-pointer to pull the Sixers to 47-44 before Embiid’s layup closed the gap to one point on the ensuing possession.

Then Oubre’s corner three gave the Sixers their first lead (49-47). And the Sixers went into the locker room up 54-51 after Hield hit his fifth three-pointer. Led by Hield’s 17 second-quarter points, Philly closed out the half on a 43-18 run.

Embiid took over where he left in the third quarter. He scored his 12th point of the quarter on a five-foot hook shot after backing Hartenstein down at the 4:58 mark. The 7-foot-2, 280-pounder followed that up by motioning that the 7-1, 264-pound center was too small.

Embiid would add four more points as the teams went into the final quarter tied at 83. In a series that was close the entire way, the Sixers, ultimately, were outscored 35-32 in the fourth.

“It was a great series, a fun series,” said Lowry, a former Villanova and Cardinal Dougherty standout. “It’s super disappointing that we lost, but that’s a two seed. They were a two seed for a reason and you gotta tip your hat to those Villanova kids. They did their jobs in this series and as a fellow Wildcat, I’m proud of them and I got big love for those guys.”