Nick Nurse's overuse of stars led to Knicks sweep

The New York Knicks blew out the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 4 to complete their second-round sweep. The Sixers may have been overmatched, but the team would have certainly extended the series had their stars not been exhausted.

Nick Nurse leaned hard on All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey in Game 2 and 3, the competitive contests in the series, playing him 47 and 44 minutes. It's no coincidence that the 76ers ran out of gas in the fourth quarter in both of those losses.

Nick Nurse has a history of playing stars big minutes

Maxey led the NBA this season in minutes per game this season, averaging 38 minutes in his 70 games. Rookie VJ Edgecombe finished 11th in minutes, averaging 35 in 75 games. It's a huge contrast between Philadelphia's highest-priced players, Joel Embiid and Paul George, who played only 38 and 37 games, respectively.

Nurse worked his players hard when he coached the Toronto Raptors, too. Pascal Siakam led the league in minutes two consecutive seasons, with Fred VanVleet finishing second in minutes twice and in the top 10 four times under Nurse, with Kyle Lowry and OG Anunoby also racking up huge minutes.

Perhaps Nurse feels that the 25-year-old Maxey and the 20-year-old Edgecombe can handle the workload over the season — Maxey was second in minutes with 37.5 in Nurse's first season in Philly.

But getting so little rest caught up with the young 76ers late in playoff games. Maxey shot 2-for-7 in the 4th quarter of Game 4 and Edgecombe went 0-for-4 as the Sixers scored only 12 points as a team. In Game 3, Maxey played 44 minutes and Edgecombe played 40, and scored five and zero points in the final quarter, looking exhausted.

Nick Nurse needs to rest Tyrese Maxey to get his best

The athleticism of the 76ers backcourt makes them difficult to play against. When they've barely rested, they simply don't have the same speed and explosiveness. They may be better than the Sixers backups normally, but five minutes of an energetic Quentin Grimes is better than five minutes of an exhausted Maxey.

It may be that Nurse simply doesn't trust his reserves in big moments. Grimes averaged 29.4 minutes in the regular season and 22.1 in the playoffs. George played 35.8 minutes in the playoffs and failed to score in the fourth quarter of Games 2 or 3. Dominick Barlow and Justin Edwards both disappeared from playoff rotations.

It has to be difficult with George and Embiid missing so much time, but Nurse simply has to figure out a way to reduce the minutes for Maxey and Edgecombe. That's what makes this summer's decisions on free agents Grimes and Kelly Oubre, Jr, so crucial. The Sixers need guards and wings or there will be even more on Maxey's shoulders.

Of course, the Sixers had young guard depth before shipping second-year sharpshooter Jared McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder in a tax-saving move. Perhaps Nurse and the Sixers should be less concerned with the luxury tax and more concerned with not overtaxing their young superstar.