Draining: Knicks series has been exhausting for Sixers, fans

PHILADELPHIA — Draining.

It was a word used a few times by Sixers forward Paul George following his team's 108-94 loss to the New York Knicks in Game 3 of their second round, best-of-seven series. The Sixers are now one loss away from calling it a season. The two teams will meet again on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. to either settle the series or force a trip back up to New York.

George couldn't have used a better word to describe the whole experience of playing the Knicks for the Sixers. From a playoff series loss two years ago in six games to the seemingly annoying way they effectively play their game, these division rivals for the Sixers have become completely draining.

The Sixers seemed to push that aside in the early going on Friday, bolting out to a 9-0 lead to begin the game. Joel Embiid was back in the lineup. The Knicks were without starting forward OG Anunoby, who strained his hamstring late in Game 2. The Sixers were moving the ball and their bodies at the offensive end of the floor, finding open looks and making them. They did a good job of containing Knicks star guard Jalen Brunson, as he made just two of his eight shots in the first quarter. They shot well, scored well, defended enough. It all led to a 31-27 lead after one. 

But the Knicks outscored the Sixers by 18 points the rest of the way, and they did it in familiar fashion. Brunson drove, leaned, threw his head around like a boxer avoiding punches, and drew contact when he wanted. When he didn't want to, he made driving layups, juked defenders side-to-side, front and back, until he could rise without resistance. He shot 9-for-14 the rest of the way, for a game-high 33 points. And when the Sixers did bottle him from shooting on the rare occasion, he threw lobs, or outlets or backdoor gems. Whenever he seemed to be somewhat contained, something good still came out of it.

Draining.

It all turned during a second quarter run in which the Knicks outscored the Sixers by 27-11. They finally took a lead at 38-35 when Landry Shamet drilled a three with 8:20 to go in the half. Remember Shamet, a Sixers castoff? He came off the bench Friday to score 15 points, missed just one of his six shots and was a plus-20 during his 26 minutes.

Draining.

"It was just a big run of the same thing, us not scoring, them playing in transition, them scoring, us playing against half court defense, 10 out of the first 14 possessions," said Nick Nurse. "They were up the floor in some transitions and making good reads and making good shots, obviously. We just didn't keep the scoreboard moving enough to get our defense set."

It all almost flipped in the third. The Sixers got the lead down to three on a pair of Embiid free throws with 2:57 to go in the quarter, and then immediately fouled Mitchell Robinson, a 48-percent free throw shooter on the season. He made one of two, and Embiid cut the lead down to two with a driving layup. Again, they grabbed ahold of Robinson. But his horrible shooting form canned both free throws and the Knicks built the lead to four. It was the beginning of a 9-0 run for New York and the proverbial nails in the coffin.

Draining.

"I think our defense has been good for the most part," said George, who scored 15 points in the first quarter, but then didn't score again and missed his last nine shots. 

"We have to tip our hat to JB (Brunson), he's been making tough shots. He's getting to his spots. And it's been someone else who's played big, who's stepped up, whether it's Mikal (Bridges), whether it's OG (Anunoby), Karl (Anthony Towns), Josh (Hart). They've all had moments. Shamet off the bench tonight. They've all had moments where they've made big shots where defensively we've got them down to maybe under five where they come up with a big possession where they make a big shot. Those are draining. Especially when our goal is to get the ball out of Jalen's hands and make someone else make a play and they're making those plays. Those plays are draining and it's frustrating from the defensive side."  

To look at things realistically, this series is more about the Knicks being a better, more healthy team right now. They are playing the best basketball of all teams left in the Eastern Conference. Brunson is on another level, the contributions come from everywhere on both sides of the floor, and they just seem to know how to go about winning games right now. They aren't searching for ways to get it done, they are imposing their wills on how they want to do things to get wins. It's a big difference from where the Sixers are right now.

Embiid is nowhere near 100 percent when it comes to health. To see him walk behind the scenes is painful. The sprained right ankle, the sore right hip, the midsection which had the appendix removed just a month ago. Maxey jammed an already tender pinky on Wednesday, and it appeared as if he passed up some shot opportunities on Friday. The numbers say he played a really good game, as he shot 8-for-12 from the floor and dealt seven assists. But it seemed to be done with a little hesitation, mostly due to New York throwing two defenders at him often, also maybe because there's that right pinky problem.

While New York was getting serious contributions from its bench, the Sixers weren't getting much of anything. 

And when the score leaned heavily late in the game towards the Knicks, the arena erupted in cheers, because despite efforts to keep tickets away from the fans from the north, they found them. Many of them found them. From Timothee Chalamet to Ben Stiller to Fat Joe to Spike Lee to Tracy Morgan. They were there in their orange and blue, outcheering the Sixers fans for most of the night. 

Draining

"You get in a situation like this and all you can do is try to get the next one and see what happens." said Nurse. "That's the obvious. If you get one, it turns to 3-1 pretty quick and you don't have to think about it being 3-0 anymore. We're going to have to dig in and regroup and make some adjustments and do things better. We came out great and then we went through a really bad stretch of defensive rebounding and then a bunch of straight line drives. That rears its head in these playoffs for us. I thought it was a little better in the second half than it was in the first. But we just didn't score enough."

They'll try again on Sunday, in an arena that may be packed with more Knick fans than that of the home team. It will no doubt be a huge, uphill task.

"You can't stop Knicks fans from buying tickets. It is what it is," said George.

Yes. And what it is for this Sixers team, the fanbase and the organization, is draining.