3 biggest takeaways for Sixers following season-ending loss to Knicks

May 10, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; New York Knicks guard Miles McBride (2) shoots the ball against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first quarter during game four of the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

The Knicks drilled 11 of their 13 attempts from 3-point range in the first quarter, which essentially put this game away. New York was going for the knockout punch in the first and succeeded as Philadelphia was unable to come up with any type of answer for them. The Sixers will be kicking themselves all summer looking back at this Game 4 loss and all of the wide-open 3s the Knicks were able to get whether it was off the dribble or off the swing pass. New York made 25 3-pointers on 44 attempts.

Coach Nick Nurse stated:

"Well, they obviously came out playing super fast, and we had another scenario. I thought in the first five possessions, I think four of them were wide open 3s. We didn't make any of them, I think, and they were running off those rebounds and obviously scoring in transition. We did a poor job of communicating in transition. We watched several of those clips at halftime, and we just weren't communicating good enough. They weren't super complicated transition run backs, but we just got two guys on one and couldn't get it talked out to get ourselves back. So, I think a lot of them were in transition. The energy, obviously, was a big gap between their energy and our energy, I thought, and dug ourselves a big hole that we could never really get out of."

A lack of effort

May 10, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Paul George (8) shoots the ball against New York Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) in the first quarter during game four of the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

Maybe the adversity of the season finally caught up to them. Maybe it was the weight of a 3-0 deficit. Either way, the Sixers just didn’t have it in this one. The Knicks were winning every hustle play, getting after every loose ball, getting after it on both ends of the floor, and the Sixers were just unable to respond with much energy. There were a number of moments when they looked at each other, confused, when New York was getting open looks from beyond the arc as they were trying to figure out defensive assignments.

"I think we came out really ready to go, and we executed really well on the offensive end, and we didn't make any of the shots to start, and I think it bothered our guys," Nurse added. "I think they're certainly living in the fourth quarter last night, in the fourth quarter of the game before where the offensive shot creation is really good, but nothing's going our way. I think it hit us. The ‘here we go again’, and we just couldn't, you can't do that, but we just couldn't get over that. I think that dispirited them a little bit right at the start. They're playing every possession in transition, and they were playing super fast, and we just couldn't get ourselves organized."

Maxey unable to find a rhythm

May 10, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey (0) drives against New York Knicks guard Mikal Bridges (25) in the third quarter during game four of the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

When Maxey was able to get into the paint, he had success, but the Sixers needed him to get going from beyond the arc to give themselves a chance. He was unable to do so as it appears his finger injury was bothering him a lot more than he was letting on. He did admit he jammed it after the Game 2 loss in this series, so that probably has something to do with it, but the star guard struggled to shoot the 3-ball in all four games in this series. He shot 3-for-19 from deep in the series.

"This series was definitely tough for me," said Maxey. "They made it tough on me. I can't even sit here and lie. They did a good job. I saw multiple bodies every single night. Like, every single pick-and-roll, it was a trap. Every single Brunson action, it was a trap. Every single time I got downhill, the entire team was in the paint. I was trying to kick out, and I gotta really watch it because I think it was definitely one of the hardest series I played in for just myself and I gotta be better for my teammates."

This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: 3 biggest takeaways for Sixers following season-ending loss to Knicks