Sixers hoping to get more help from role players, bench at home in Game 3 against Knicks
"I think everybody probably plays better at home," head coach Nick Nurse said. "I think if you look at all the data you could probably find a bunch of instances to make that a true statement."
The Sixers hope to shift the momentum on their home court, where they are expected to play better.
But the responsibility for that momentum cannot be placed on just Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, who have combined to score more than half (63.9%) of the Sixers’ points through the first two games of the best-of-seven series against the New York Knicks.
“I think people say that a lot, that they play better at home in the playoffs,” head coach Nick Nurse said ahead of Game 3 at the Wells Fargo Center. “I think that’s probably true. I think everybody probably plays better at home. I think if you look at all the data you could probably find a bunch of instances to make that a true statement.”
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Nurse needs his role players to reclaim the series.
The team’s third-best player, Tobias Harris, has only averaged 8.5 points in the series, and Buddy Hield, who was acquired from the Indiana Pacers in February, has averaged 1.0 points on 20% shooting through two games.
And while Kelly Oubre Jr. wants to be more involved and his numbers haven’t been strong this series — finishing with 10 points in Game 1 and four points in Game 2 — the 28-year-old’s contributions on defense have stood out to Nurse.
“He’s been really good defensively,” Nurse said. “He really works hard. I think that he has focused a lot on defense and used a lot of his energy there, and maybe a lot of his mental mindset there. He’s a guy that is usually not bashful about finding a way to get a shot — or six — up.
”We need to just get him feeling good — and help get him in some areas where he can do it.”
The Sixers will also need their bench to more closely match the Knicks.
The Knicks had 42 points from their bench in Game 1, which included 21 points from Miles “Deuce” McBride and 13 from Bojan Boganovic, while the Sixers’ bench added just seven points. So how do you get the role players and the bench to be more involved?
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“The biggest thing is that it feels like to me that we’ve been in a situation twice where we’ve kind of got off to a good start and really good first quarters,” Nurse said. “Second quarter, we need to play a little bit better defensively… .In Game 1, I think they shot 16 free throws in the second quarter and in Game 2, they shot 10, so obviously we’re fouling way too much.
”The plays to start the second quarter just need to be a little more solid.”