76ers’ Nick Nurse teases using Joel Embiid-Paul Reed lineup vs. Knicks

NEW YORK — The Philadelphia 76ers have to solve the puzzle of how to beat the New York Knicks at their own game. At the very least, the Sixers have to meet the Knicks’ incredible rebounding with great rebounding of their own if they want to win in the first round of the 2024 NBA playoffs.

Nick Nurse and the Sixers said after a defeat in Game 1 that they have to do a better collective job of rebounding. The Knicks cemented their status as the premier offensive rebounders in the league by hauling in 23 of them, dominating the possessions battle and winning the opening game of the series. Backup center Mitchell Robinson collected seven offensive rebounds while starting center Isaiah Hartenstein got five. Even star point guard Jalen Brunson managed to get five of his own.

While Joel Embiid’s injury scare appears to be nothing more than a scare, the 76ers still have to do a much better all-around job rebounding the ball. One way is to inject their lineups with more size by playing Paul Reed alongside Embiid. It would compromise their spacing on offense but with such a dire need of impact on the glass, it’s a lineup that Nurse is keeping as an option.

“I would say that’s a possibility, yes,” Nurse said.

Nurse teased the possibility of playing Embiid and Reed together before the season but only got a few chances to actually implement it. The last time the 76ers went to it, the two bigs dominated the severely underhanded Memphis Grizzlies, showing a legitimate proof of concept (albeit against poor competition).

“I thought Joel battled pretty good down there trying to get his body on people to block out,” Nurse said, adding that there are ways to help Embiid on the rebounds that he didn’t want to disclose.

Reed tallied five rebounds and four points in 11 minutes, giving the 76ers some much-needed activity down low. But because that activity often left Philly more vulnerable on the glass, Nurse is asking Reed to dial it back a bit, saying that he played “almost too aggressively” but that he also “certainly gave a great effort.”

Nurse said that Reed’s Game 1 performance was “okay. He was out of position a lot. I thought he went for a lot of block shots that he didn’t need to and he didn’t get ’em and they ended up sticking him back in ’cause he left, got off his man a little bit too much.”

Although the 76ers ended up losing Game 1, there were plenty of positive takeaways, namely how good they played in Embiid’s minutes.

Nico Batum said that the Sixers’ defense was “pretty good” and the numbers back him up. According to Cleaning the Glass, the Knicks had a 76.5 offensive rating in half-court possessions. But what New York did outstandingly well was generate second chances, tallying them at a rate of 30.8 per 100 possessions. Add that to a strong transition offense and you have a Knicks performance that allowed them to win despite not having much of an answer for Embiid.

The 76ers, of course, need to find a way to replicate the job they did defending Brunson, who had just 22 points on 8-26 shooting. But he’s not the only Knick that Philly has to key in on.

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