As Game 6 looms, Sixers coach Nick Nurse stresses importance of playing a full ‘48 minutes’ vs. Knicks

The outline hasn’t been all that different for the 76ers in the first five games of this playoff series.

Generally, the game has been close, the 76ers take an early lead until Joel Embiid goes to the bench, the New York Knicks take advantage of mismatches to get back into the game, the Sixers fight back before the game is won by the team that makes the most plays down the stretch.

Due to one less set of late-game heroics, Philly finds itself in a critical spot heading into Game 6 of the opening-round series.

The Knicks take a 3-2 series lead into the matchup at 9 p.m. Thursday at the Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers must win in order to stay alive. The assumption is they’re happy after Tuesday’s 112-106 overtime victory at Madison Square Garden. And that assumption would be wrong.

» READ MORE: Sixers owners partner with Fanatics’ Michael Rubin to purchase 2,000 tickets for Philly fans

“We’re not,” Tyrese Maxey said after scoring 46 points to lead the Sixers to their Game 5 victory. “This is over. This game is over, and we got another game [Thursday].”

Coach Nick Nurse was also locked in during Wednesday’s media availability. There will be very few surprises Thursday, considering the Atlantic Division rivals have already played nine times between regular-season games and this series.

“Well, I think that the main thing is that — and I know it sounds very trite — it’s 48 minutes,” Nurse said of what the Sixers could take from Tuesday’s victory that could help them Thursday. “You have to really understand this is 48 minutes and the amount of times I was saying, ‘This is only a two-possession game.’ It felt a lot worse than that. You know what I mean?”

The Sixers lost 104-101 in Game 2 after they fell apart in the final 27.1 seconds and allowed the Knicks to close on an 8-0 run. They lost 97-92 in Game 4 thanks in large part to making just 25% of their shots in the fourth quarter, including 1-of-9 on three-pointers. Kelly Oubre Jr. scored their last field goal with 5 minutes, 4 seconds to play.

But Tuesday, Maxey brought the Sixers from six points down with 25.4 seconds left in regulation. The All-Star guard scored Philly’s final seven points in 17 seconds to force overtime.

» READ MORE: Survival of the Sixers: Philly proves itself with gritty, unexpected Game 5 road win over Knicks

“It’s a very close series?” Nurse said. “If you want to take the easy way out and say, ‘Oh, that game happened because of this’ or ‘That game happened because of that,’ that’s all BS. There’s a lot of stats that are skewed a lot of different ways and it’s coming down to a close game either way. There’s not one thing that’s sticking out.”

The Sixers did get Tobias Harris’ best effort of the series in Game 5. They’ll need him to duplicate that in order to force a Game 7. Harris finished with 19 points on 7-for-11 shooting along with eight rebounds and one block in 49 minutes, 12 seconds. He averaged 8.8 points on 39.5% shooting in the first four games.

Reserve forward Nico Batum was also solid down the stretch in Game 5. He blocked Jalen Brunson’s potential game-winning layup in the closing seconds of regulation, and forced Brunson to pass up a shot in mid-air which led to a crucial turnover with less than 30 seconds remaining in overtime.

“Like I said, just details,” Batum said of the deciding factors in the series’ outcomes. “You ask me what can we do in practice to fix it? Nothing. Nothing you can drill or nothing you can do in practice. It’s just who wants it more. And fighting. We did it [Tuesday], especially the last 28 seconds when you’re down six. They did it to us a couple days ago and we found a way to do it today and we did it.”

We’ll learn Thursday night who will find a way to win down the stretch on Game 6.