Whining Sixers lack the heart to beat the Knicks

NEW YORK — The Sixers reportedly are filing a grievance regarding the officials with the NBA over a lack of calls.

Sixers fans should file a grievance over their team’s lack of heart.

These Sixers play pretty hard. But they don’t play to win. Not like the Knicks, who play hard. Not like the Knicks, who want to win.

That’s why and how the Sixers blew a five-point lead with less than 28 seconds to play Monday. They gave up two (more) offensive rebounds. They turned the ball over (again), because they still can’t inbound it efficiently. They lost Game 2 in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs because the Knicks wanted it more.

» READ MORE: Sixers to file grievance with NBA over officiating in first-round series against Knicks

That’s the reason why the under-talented Knicks won by seven points in Game 1 on Saturday. It’s even more the reason why they won, 104-101, on Monday night.

Joel Embiid knows it. He whined about the referees a bit, saying it was “unacceptable” that they didn’t call the game tighter down the stretch, and the grievance simply screams softness: John Starks and Michael Jordan used to foul each other harder in warmups.

Ultimately, though, Embiid owned the overall shortcomings of his team: “We should be 2-0. We’re the better team. We’re gonna keep fighting.”

Correction: They’re going to start fighting.

Asked if he thought the Knicks wanted these games more than the Sixers, coach Nick Nurse snickered and replied, “Absolutely not.”

» READ MORE: The Sixers-Knicks maddening ending to Game 2 is exactly what playoff basketball should be

That’s concerning. There are three possibilities here.

1: Nurse doesn’t know what he’s been watching, which is unlikely, since he’s one of the league’s better coaches.

2: Nurse doesn’t want to hurt his players’ feelings; unacceptable, since that plays directly to their softness.

3: Nurse is getting everything out of them that they have. Now down, 2-0, that would be the worst news of all.

The Knicks’ best player, Jalen Brunson, is 16-for-55 in the series. He’s shooting 29% from the field. He has missed 10 of his 12 three-pointers.

How do you overcome that? Heart. Taking charges, fighting for loose balls, hunting offensive rebounds, and defending every second of every possession like they’re in a $100 pickup game at the park and they’ve only got 25 bucks in their sock.

Heart, like Josh Hart, the most aptly named player in the NBA, who has made 8 of 15 three-pointers after shooting 31.0% in the regular season. Heart, like Donte DiVincenzo, who dropped 19 and made four threes Monday night.

Heart, like Embiid.

At times, you had to wonder if some of Embiid’s own teammates were joining in the Madison Square Garden chant, “F— Embiid! F— Embiid!”

This guy, two months removed from left knee surgery, in two road playoff games, has scored 63 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in 75 minutes. He can’t do much more.

» READ MORE: Sixers lose to Knicks in crushing fashion and drop to 2-0 in their first-round series

Heart, like Tyrese Maxey, who scored 33 when healthy in Game 1 and 35 while sick in Game 2. He, too, is absolved, despite his two turnovers in the last two minutes; he scored 15 in the fourth quarter while everybody else was either out of answers or out of gas.

Those two played hard. They wanted to win. So did Kyle Lowry, who’s 38 years old, and is averaging 35 minutes, which is 20 minutes too many at this point.

The rest?

Kelly Oubre Jr. has 14 points in the series. Nico Batum, nine. Buddy Hield, two. Tobias Harris, 17, and they’ve been barely noticeable.

Harris called out the Sixers two years ago after they collapsed against hard-nosed Heat. He said then that the team needed to get tougher. He was their best player in that series. Now?

“I just think we need to get a win,” Harris said. “I’m not really focused on comments I said [two years ago].”

Said Maxey: “I thought we played tough as hell. Everybody played tough tonight.”

From his perspective, you couldn’t blame him. He’s not wrong. There’s tough, and then there’s Knicks tough, and nobody suffered more than Maxey.

Maxey got punked at the end of the game on the inbounds play, but that wasn’t as embarrassing as what happened earlier in the fourth quarter. With 8 minutes, 18 seconds to play Miles “Deuce” McBride and Maxey grabbed Bojan Bogdanovic’s missed three-point shot at the same time. McBride twisted the ball from Maxey’s grasp, tossed Maxey to the floor, and deposited a layup for a 87-80 lead.

It was like that all Monday night. All Saturday night. It will be like that all Thursday night, too, when the series moves to Philadelphia.

The Knicks play like they are rabid. Like they are furious. Like they are cornered. And that’s why they’re favored.

“No one’s going to feel sorry for us,” Harris said.

Bull’s-eye, big guy.

No one does.