Riding on a high after a monumental win to clinch a semifinals berth, the Philadelphia 76ers were in for a rude awakening in Game 1. The New York Knicks put on a demolition job, routing them at home with ease. But more importantly, the No. 3 seed in the East immediately made the visitors learn a disturbing lesson they are incapable of fixing.
Before the game went got out of reach for the 76ers, they registered a total of three points off the bench. Nick Nurse and his staff went with a six-man rotation peppered in with minuscule minutes from Andre Drummond and Justin Edwards, which is pretty daring –– and unreasonable –– given that they just played a Game 7 a couple of days ago.
More importantly, though, this is a scathing reminder that the 76ers do not really have the personnel to be able to spread the wealth beyond the starting unit. When one of the starters do not play well, this team is poised to struggle big time. The lack of quality they have off the bench and the sparse court time their second unit cogs are getting are certainly not helping them.
Knicks hand the 76ers a disturbing lesson they cannot fix
With such a loaded starting lineup led by Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, the Knicks are one of the few teams that can out-produce the 76ers starting unit. Philly already trots out a pretty top-heavy lineup, and their starters clearly consist of their five best players. Still, both teams have a pretty even opening group.
The bench is where the Knicks got the advantage. While New York's second unit actually averaged fewer points than Philly's during the regular season, Mike Brown has more playable options off the bench who can go get them a bucket. Meanwhile, the 76ers have numerous players who can only fill a particular niche, which limits their ability to contribute individually.
Fortunately for the 76ers, this flaw already exposed itself in Game 1. The Knicks were well-rested, so one can pencil this in as a scheduled loss for Philadelphia. Still, that does not excuse Nick Nurse and his staff from looking for ways to get the bench more involved, such as by staggering the starters more or just playing more guys to give the starters more breathing room.
Philly has faced steeper climbs than this one, but if there is one thing clear, it is that they can no longer afford to get behind by a lot in this series. Hopefully, the coaches can at least find a workaround to overcome this huge deficit off the bench.
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