CAMDEN, N.J. — As the Philadelphia 76ers prepare to stave off elimination and begin the climb from an 0-3 deficit against the New York Knicks with Game 4 set for Sunday afternoon, coach Nick Nurse and his team convened on Saturday at the team’s training facility for a film session.
Nurse has seen a ton of elimination games in his career as coach of both the Sixers and the Toronto Raptors. He knows what has to be done in these situations as he did just guide Philadelphia from a 3-1 deficit to defeat the Boston Celtics in Round 1.
“I always just try to treat it like one game, and can we play better or not, right?” said Nurse. “Like, can we play better or not? You can’t really listen to 3-1, 3-0, 3-2, you can’t really listen to any of that, and let that form any type of whatever around your on your back. Can’t carry that around. You got to really just zero in on, can we play better? And that’s what I’m challenging the guys with today.”
To Nurse’s point, the Sixers just need to play better. They had their chances against this New York team on plenty of occasions, but they haven’t been able to convert on the open looks they generate.
“You’re sitting here, and you’re going through the film, and you stop it at 80-76, and you show three wide open 3s,” Nurse added. “And you say, ‘Guys, we weren’t playing very well last night. We didn’t play good enough. And here we are with one minute to go (in the third quarter) and we’re right here. Like, look at all these.’ I’ve already put down all things we can do better. That’s what you’re trying to show them. Like, we just got to play better. Can we play better? And we got to do, and if we do it, we’ll be going back to New York.”
Now, what did Nurse see on the film? It all starts on offense where the Sixers have struggled mightily in this series compared to Round 1.
“We had 11 turnovers, which isn’t a super high number, but I think, like, nine of the 11 were just on us, you know what I mean?” Nurse began. “They did make a couple good plays and darted in there, like, unexpectedly on a couple there, got an arm in there or something, but the majority of them were just kind of us. We’re a low turnover team. I call them uncharacteristic plays that that we make, and that’s one of the things, where it starts.”
The Sixers had their chances to convert on many opportunities. Much like in Game 2, Philadelphia was able to come up with so many wide-open looks, but they couldn’t knock them down.
“On offense again, we did a lot of good things,” the coach contiued. “As far as shot creation, I think we had five, six, kind of point blankers at the rim that again, you’re not going to make all of them, but I think in a playoff game that it’s close and you need to win, is you got to make four out of six. You can’t miss that many. Those got to get finished.”
As Philadelphia heads in Game 4 on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. EDT, it is hoping to execute things better and get after it on the offensive end.
“I thought we did create enough, not quite enough, but a lot of catch-and-shoot 3s that were really open, but there’s also—I think there’s opportunities to create so many more, right?” Nurse finished. “I think there’s another pass out, or some kick outs there, and some of those finishes at the rim or I throw blocked shots into the turnover category. Like, we serve a couple up when there’s guys standing on the perimeter, wide open. So just getting a little better.”
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Nick Nurse on 76ers facing elimination, talking points in film session
