76ers become first NBA team with four 30+-point playoff losses in a single postseason
- The Knicks finished a second-round sweep on May 10 with a 144-114 win, and that loss pushed Philadelphia into a playoff record nobody wanted. - Philadelphia lost four postseason games by at least 30 points in 2026 — 123-91, 128-96, 137-98, and 144-114 — across two series. - That matters because the Sixers still beat Boston in seven, which makes the collapse against New York look even more structural.
Philadelphia’s season didn’t just end with a loss. It ended with a pattern turning into a record. When the Knicks closed out the 76ers 144-114 on May 10, the Sixers became the first NBA team to lose four playoff games by 30 or more points in a single postseason. That’s the kind of stat that cuts through all the usual playoff excuses — bad matchup, cold shooting, one ugly night — because four times is not a fluke. ### What actually happened? The immediate trigger was New York’s Game 4 blowout in Philadelphia. The Knicks won the series 4-0, and they weren’t just better at the margins. They scored 137 in Game 1, 108 in Game 2, 108 in Game 3, and then 144 in the closeout. The series average was 124.3 points for New York against 102.0 for Philadelphia. ### Which four losses made the record? (nba.com) Two came against Boston in the first round — 123-91 in Game 1 and 128-96 in Game 4. Two more came against New York in the second round — 137-98 in Game 1 and 144-114 in Game 4. That’s four separate playoff losses by 32, 32, 39, and 30 points in the same run. (nba.com) ### Why is that so weird? Because this wasn’t a dead team stumbling through a short series. Philadelphia actually came back from those early Boston disasters and won that first-round matchup in seven games. The Sixers beat the Celtics 109-100 in Game 7 on May 3 behind 34 points from Joel Embiid and 30 from Tyrese Maxey. Teams that survive two 30-point playoff losses usually don’t do it by advancing. (nbcsportsphiladelphia.com) ### So what does the record really say? Basically, the Sixers had almost no floor. Their best version was good enough to eliminate Boston. Their worst version was historically uncompetitive. That swing matters more than a normal series loss because playoff basketball is about reducing volatility — fewer bad possessions, fewer dead stretches, fewer nights where the game is over by halftime. Philadelphia kept having those nights anyway. (nba.com) ### Was this just the Knicks being great? Partly — New York’s offense was scorching, and the Knicks got huge production across the series from Jalen Brunson while rolling through Philly with pace, spacing, and constant ball movement. But the catch is that the record belongs to the 76ers, not the Knicks, because it spans two opponents. Boston blew them out twice. New York did it twice more. That points less to one impossible matchup and more to a team that could break down completely. (nbcsportsphiladelphia.com) ### Why does that matter for the offseason? Because a normal second-round exit can be sold as “one more piece.” This is harder to spin. If your team can win a Game 7 in Boston and still post the worst blowout profile any playoff team has ever had in one postseason, then the issue is deeper than one cold shooting night. Rotation depth, lineup balance, shot creation under pressure, and basic defensive resistance all come under the microscope. (nba.com) ### Is the bottom line just that it got ugly? Yes — but “ugly” undersells it. The Sixers didn’t just lose big a few times. They set a new standard for how often a supposedly live playoff team can get run off the floor in one spring. And because they also showed they could beat Boston, the collapse lands even harder. It means the ceiling was real — but the floor was catastrophic. (nba.com)
