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Thursday's NBA playoffs takeaways: Bucks, 76ers eliminated

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By Kelly Iko, Eric Nehm, Fred Katz, Mike Vorkunov and David Aldridge

The New York Knicks held off the Philadelphia 76ers in a close Game 6 to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals and face the Indiana Pacers.

The Knicks and 76ers delivered a thriller that saw Jalen Brunson erupt for a game-high 41 points in New York's 118-115 win. The Sixers' Joel Embiid nearly matched Brunson with 39 points.

In Indianapolis, Damian Lillard was a go for the Milwaukee Bucks' Game 6 against the Pacers after missing Games 4 and 5 of the first-round series with right Achilles tendinitis.

Lillard produced a team-high 28 points Thursday, but it wasn't enough. The Pacers routed the Bucks 120-98, eliminating Milwaukee from the playoffs.

The Knicks and Pacers will meet for Game 1 in New York on Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET.

"He is starting to SIZZLE!" ♨️

Obi Toppin has a new playoff career-high 21 points off the bench. pic.twitter.com/1lf3kUaFa6

— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) May 3, 2024

Pacers 120, Bucks 98

Series: Indiana advances (4-2)

Toppin on top

In a series that had become less about the players available and more about tactics and counters, the Pacers, who had relied incredibly heavily on production from their starters, needed an edge in Game 6. Just one more advantage to push them through to the second round.

During the regular season, Indiana led the league in bench scoring (46.8 points per game), boasting names such as Benedict Mathurin and Buddy Hield, who could change the course of games with their floor spacing and underrated ballhandling. Without those two, Hield being traded and Mathurin being injured, as well as Jalen Smith and Isaiah Jackson largely being glued to the bench, the Pacers needed stabilizing.

Enter McConnell and Toppin, the heroes of Game 6. They averaged a combined 20 points per game during the year, each providing different positive attributes necessary to keep a high-octane offense humming. McConnell, the steady, pesky guard with an extremely high IQ provided consistent defense and veteran playmaking. Toppin is an energetic, aggressive forward capable of cutting through defenses and is a decent floor spacer.

On Thursday night, McConnell and Toppin proved the difference while the Bucks only mustered six points from their bench. The duo's energy was contagious, key cogs for arguably Indiana's best — if not most important — defensive performance of the season. — Kelly Iko, NBA staff writer

Injuries catch up to Bucks again

As the injuries piled up, the Bucks didn't have enough in this first-round series against the Pacers. They might have been able to advance if the rest of the starting lineup had stayed healthy, but there were too many Bucks injuries by the time they reached Game 6. Lillard returned but was not 100 percent. Khris Middleton played through a sprained ankle during the series' final four games.

This will end up being a disappointing season for Milwaukee. Not because the team underperformed or didn't play well enough in big moments, but rather, the Bucks dealt with injuries in the postseason once again. Over the last five years, it has become a regular occurrence for the team. And while they persevered through it once in 2021 to win an NBA championship, it has played a major role in them coming up short across the last few seasons. — Eric Nehm, Bucks beat writer

(Photo: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)

Knicks 118, 76ers 115

Series: New York advances (4-2)

This series is not over

Sure, the Knicks just won the fourth game of it. And yes, the NBA schedule claims that they will play the Pacers in the second round. The propaganda machine insists that Game 1 of that series is scheduled for Monday.

But we all know that isn't true. Everyone who watched three minutes of this series understands that somehow, some way, these two teams are destined to play forever, that billions of years from now, they will be in Game 9 to the 682nd power of this first-round series and it will come to an end only because the sun expanded large enough to engulf the Earth.

This was a seven-game series that happened to be only six.

It was a fight the whole way.

As Sixers coach Nick Nurse said leading into the game, "Nothing matters" in this matchup. The Knicks crushed the Sixers on the glass, and they somehow lost. The Sixers did the same the next game, and they somehow dropped that one.

None of this series made sense. So why should one team winning its fourth game mean it's over? Somewhere, these two teams have a Game 7 scheduled and will play it. — Fred Katz, Knicks beat writer

JOSH HART PUTS THE KNICKS AHEAD 114-111 WITH 24 SECONDS LEFT IN THE 4Q 😱🎯

NYK advances to the East Semis with a win on TNT pic.twitter.com/IXRatqtyJy

— NBA (@NBA) May 3, 2024

76ers waste another year of Joel Embiid

There's only one takeaway the 76ers can take from this series: They have used up one more season of Joel Embiid's prime and don't have a playoff series win to show for it. Embiid fouled out after dominating most of the game. Tyrese Maxey had an ugly Game 6 after a heroic Game 5, scoring 17 points and missing 12 of 18 shots. Tobias Harris showed up but you could barely tell; he had zero points and took just two shots in 29 minutes in what might have been his last game with the Sixers.

The Knicks go on to the second round and the Sixers return to the drawing board. It was a close series — the Knicks ended up outscoring Philadelphia by just one total point over the six games — but it was a loss nonetheless. — Mike Vorkunov, NBA senior writer

Where do the Sixers go from here?

At first blush, the 76ers losing in the first round looks like a step backward, after Philly was a game away from reaching the Eastern Conference finals last year. But even though this season was derailed again by an injury to Embiid, the 76ers are in a much better position heading into next season.

Maxey showed he could be a dominant number two to Embiid. And Philly will have more flexibility going into the summer than just about any contender (or quasi-contender). Philly will have, depending on how it handles several free agents, at least $35 million to go after a top free agent, before re-signing Maxey, a free agent to be in name only, to a nine-figure extension. (That number could reach more than $50 million if Philly renounced its rights to free agents like Paul Reed and De'Anthony Melton.)

The Sixers could go all in on Paul George, who's been rumored to be their top target for months or use that room to facilitate trades that could improve the team's depth.

But, one big problem remains. Philly can't feel confident at this stage that their bell cow superstar will ever be able to put a healthy regular season and playoffs together in one year. The 76ers were 29-17 when the Warriors' Jonathan Kuminga fell into Embiid's knee during a game on Jan. 30, tearing Embiid's meniscus and forcing the 2022-23 MVP to undergo surgery. He returned in early April after missing 29 games, but the Sixers fell from a likely two seed in the East — which would have given them home-court advantage in the East until the conference finals — to the seventh seed after they won the play-in game against the Miami Heat.

Embiid's been in the league for eight years. He's almost never been healthy at the end of any of them. He's a 7-1, 280-pound guy who is still MVP worthy when he's at his best. But he's 30 now. The clock is running. — David Aldridge, NBA senior writer

Friday's playoff schedule:

Required reading

(Photo: Dylan Buell / Getty Images)

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