Instant observations: Sixers redefine quitting in gutless loss to Knicks

The New York Knicks won 138-89 to close out the first half of the season in Philadelphia, in a game where it’s unclear if the home team ever took the floor. The Sixers submitted what may have been their worst performance of the season, apparently dreaming about their travel plans to Cancun, Cabo, or other exotic destinations of their choosing before pregame introductions were over.

Here’s what I saw.

1-2-3, Cancun!

Around these parts, we like to dig into the X’s and O’s, the matchups, the context of the season, and everything in between to try to sum up why games turned out the way they did. But every so often, you get a game like Wednesday night’s howler against the Knicks, and you can end a recap in five words: the Sixers didn’t show up. They got blitzed from the opening whistle and never offered a counterpunch, allowing the Knicks and their fans to take over Xfinity Mobile Arena for yet another time.

The Sixers’ defense for the opening 12 minutes of the game was an absolute disgrace. It took very little action for the Knicks to get an open shot at the rim, just a slight lean toward the current balhandler to sell a potential handoff before an immediate backcut to the rim, leaving a litany of Sixers players standing still on the perimeter. And once the first man was beat, the help at the rim was basically nonexistent, with their bigs pulled out to the three-point line or otherwise not bothering to rotate over. Forget about the guards or the wings helping there, either, as if a team that habitually overhelps could ever do so when they need it at the basket.

Their struggles on offense didn’t exactly calm the storm. Tyrese Maxey had a relatively good first half scoring the basketball, hitting the Knicks with speed out of dribble handoffs to get all the way to the rim. But his opportunities to get quality looks were limited, with New York staring down lineups with 2-3 non-shooters and hardly leaving the paint on some possessions. Despite plentiful zone looks from the Knicks, the Sixers shot like a CYO team from deep, with yet another poor VJ Edgecombe night from deep, a clunker from Kelly Oubre, and no help from their bench options.

(The Edgecombe thing is officially in problematic territory, and I hope that the All-Star break gives him time to recharge his legs and get back to his early-season form. Edgecombe forced a few threes up as they were chasing the game, but he did not look especially comfortable as a shooter, even on quality looks, and that continues a trend that has lasted for a while. He has not shot well from deep for most of 2026, and they really cannot afford another weak link in the chain on that front, with their spacing already pretty crappy even with Joel Embiid available to shoot over two and three defenders at a time.

On Sixers misses and turnovers, and there were plenty of the latter, the Knicks simply ran over Philly in transition. There was a stretch in the second quarter where it felt like Mikal Bridges walked in untouched for five consecutive dunks or layups on the break, and I am only slightly exaggerating the actual number. They were out-efforted in the halfcourt and in transition, and unless you possess one of the greatest offenses of all-time, there is simply no way to overcome that.

Ball security was an issue early in the game, too, with the Knicks slapping down and getting rewarded as the Sixers fumbled the ball off their shins or directly into the waiting hands of another New York player. Protecting the ball has been one of their offensive strengths all year, so it makes sense that a few recent blowouts have been sparked by the other team ripping and running to punish poor transition defense.

The Sixers put together some impressive lowlight reels individually. If you needed evidence to make the case that Adem Bona should start the games that Joel Embiid is unavailable for, I submit to you Andre Drummond’s first half of basketball against the New York Knicks. He had two different defensive rebounds that he immediately turned into backcourt turnovers in the first half, squandering rare possessions where they held up long enough to force a New York miss. This is the sort of team he is arguably on the roster to deal with, because you have to remember he was signed in the wake of the pummeling they suffered on the glass in the 2024 playoffs. He was about as useless as could be in this one, and was so bad that Nurse turned to Charles Bassey over him in the second half.

And, by the way, Bona wasn’t any good either! He missed a point-blank layup on a putback attempt, committed his third foul of the first half on a useless 94-foot foul after a Knicks defensive rebound, and had his own backcourt turnover, committing an inbounds violation right after a Knicks made basket. Bona also struggled to execute their defensive coverage on his high shows and doubles. Bona’s physical profile suggests he should be better as a trap-and-recover player, but he doesn’t execute that style well, and his worst fouling habits arguably come out there, rather than when he’s protecting the rim and getting vertical.

To be fair to Bona, though, questions about Philadelphia’s scheme and its suitability for the roster have been asked over and over again this year, and those are certainly fair with the current group they have on the floor. You can lay it out with simple anecdotes: Tyrese Maxey ended up as the low man on several possessions where the Sixers tried to trap and recover up top, with Karl-Anthony Towns ending one of those with a hellacious dunk as Maxey fouled him on the way by. A more consistent, more conservative approach on the defensive end might need consideration to get through this chunk of the season with no Paul George. It is worth distinguishing between whether they can’t functionally execute it or don’t want to try right now, but the bottom line is their fundamental concepts haven’t been working lately, and a Plan B appears necessary.

If you want to know my biggest coaching gripe of the night, it’s that Nick Nurse simply refused to pull his starters until far past the point of no return. VJ Edgecombe, Kelly Oubre, and Dominick Barlow were all in the game to open the fourth quarter until Jose Alvarado personally pushed the margin into 40+ territory. Maybe there was a little bit of forcing guys to play through it on a night when they showed no interest in playing a real basketball game, but it had zero upside with a lot of potential danger for guys they are wholly reliant on. I feel the same way about Maxey playing the entire third quarter just for Philadelphia to lose that in predictable fashion, playing 32 minutes in a game that was over in 16.

Keep in mind, this wasn’t even the best version of the Knicks, who were down both OG Anunoby and Deuce McBride (and the latter is basically Ray Allen when he’s up against the Sixers). They were also on the second half of a back-to-back and playing on the road right before the All-Star break, which is prime “Give the game away” territory if you want it to be. But they came in hoping to end the first half of the season on a high note, and the Sixers allowed them to do so without any resistance.

Other notes

— I can’t remember the last time I saw a head coach and a player on the floor get offsetting technical fouls, so congratulations to Nick Nurse and Jose Alvarado for this prestigious honor.

Speaking of Alvarado, perhaps his 8/13 night from three underlines why I do not buy that there was absolutely nothing the Sixers could do and no one they could bring in before the deadline had passed.