In their first meeting with the New York Knicks, the Philadelphia 76ers emerged victorious behind some late-game heroics from TJ McConnell.
Coming into the game, it appeared that this would be the battle of the new-wave big men: Joel Embiid vs Kristaps Porzingis. That was far from the case as Porzingis’s seven points were overshadowed by former-All-Stars Derrick Rose and Carmelo Anthony combining for 53 points. For the Philadelphia Sixers, Embiid had a solid statistical night, but he was really struggling to get the ball to connect with nylon. Luckily, the Sixers had unsung hero TJ McConnell to save the day with a buzzer-beating turnaround jumper.
First Half
Embiid has stated that he thinks the Sixers can be a playoff team, and that’s exactly what they looked like to open the game. Led by five quick points by Ersan Ilyasova, Philadelphia jumped out to an early 9-3 lead. The Knicks—spearheaded by Anthony’s never-ending offensive repertoire—responded to take a 13-12 lead with 7:19 left in the opening quarter. After 12 minutes of back-and-forth action, the Knicks held a 32-27 advantage.
While Embiid lead all Sixers in scoring after one, his seven points paled in comparison to Derrick Rose and Anthony’s combined 23 points. That, along with a strong contribution off the bench by Kyle O’Quinn, was the difference if the first half.
The woes continued for the home team as the deficit grew to nine for the Sixers—forcing Head Coach Brett Brown to call a timeout two minutes into the quarter. Halfway through the quarter, O’Quinn hit a midrange jumper to tally the game’s first double-double.
Hype Didn’t Pan Out
Although the Embiid-Porzingis battle didn’t live up to the hype in the first half, the player nicknamed “The Unicorn” did get the better of his rookie opponent, whom tried to get a little too fancy on a baseline jumper.
Philadelphia trailed by as many as 17 points in the second quarter, but they rattled off a 9-0 run to quickly get back within single digits. Fans were given a scare when, with 1:15 left in the half, Embiid took O’Quinn off the dribble to score at the rim; it appeared the big man slipped and tweaked his ankle on the play—causing him to hobble back on defense. Luckily, the injury was just a sprain, and he was available to play in the second half.
Second Half
Heading into the break, the Knicks remained ahead, but their lead was cut to five at 52-47. The tandem of Rose and Anthony scored just one and two points, respectively, in the second quarter after playing all of the first. Nonetheless, the two lead the game in scoring with 13 apiece, while Embiid lead the way on the other side with eleven points.
A pair of free throws by Ilyasova cut the Knicks lead to three, and Robert Covington followed with a three to tie the game and get on the board. Some scrappy defense held the Knicks without a shot attempt in the first two and a half minutes of the half. Anthony and Covington traded threes, and this finally became a contest again. Not long after, the Sixers gained some momentum; Nik Stauskas hit a triple to increase the lead to four, and Knicks Head Coach Jeff Hornacek called a timeout to regroup his team.
That timeout ended up being exactly what New York needed; they came out with an 8-1 run to take a three-point lead and force a timeout from Brown. Nerlens Noel went on a personal four-point run via a 20-foot jumper and two free throws to give the Sixers the lead. However, that was short lived as Anthony hit a pair of jumpers for his own four-point run to give the Knicks a 70-67 lead. A pair of free throws gave the star forward his eleventh and twelfth points of the quarter—bringing his scoring total to 25 points.
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With twelve minutes left in regulation, the Knicks held a 75-71 lead. The Sixers showed better offense in the third quarter, but the quarter still ended on a low note. Anthony added another three points to his scoring total, and what’s left of Joakim Noah swatted an Embiid layup as the clock ran out.
The final quarter of regulation did not get off to a good start for the Sixers. With Anthony and Rose on the bench, the Knicks relied on Justin Holiday and Brandon Jennings to score, and they answered the call. The backcourt pair’s scoring brought New York’s lead to eleven, 82-71. On the ninth attempt, the Sixers finally got the lid off the basket via a floater from McConnell. With 6:50 left in the game, Philadelphia trailed 84-75. They needed a run to have a chance at coming away victorious. Four more points from the home team brought the game to within five, but Jennings sparked a 5-0 run to put the Knicks’ lead in double figures, 89-79.
Photo Finish
Embiid checked back into the game with 3:04 left, and it certainly made a difference. He banked in a long bomb to bring the game within three with just over a minute left to play; the next play some the same suspect make a layup to make it a one-point game. Rose made it a three-point game once more with an acrobatic layup, but the Sixers refused to go away. Gerald Henderson got fouled on a layup, so he calmly stepped to the line and knocked down two free throws. At this point, the Knicks lead 97-96 with 24.8 left.
The game was decided when Porzingis airballed a wide-open three. Henderson pushed the ball up the court, swung the ball to Ilyasova who dumped the ball to McConnell on the baseline, and the Arizona product hit a turnaround jumper to win the game as time expired.
The Sixers took a 98-97 victory over the Knicks, and that will improve their record to 11-25. Embiid lead Philadelphia in scoring with 21 points, despite shooting just 7-of-20 from the field. He also notched a career-high in rebounds with 14. Ilyasova (16), Noel (13), Covington (13) and Henderson (12) all joined the young star in double-digit scoring.
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On one hand, the Knicks’ Anthony lead the game in scoring with 28 points. Derrick Rose followed closely with 25 points. On the other hand, O’Quinn finished with 10 points and a game-high 15 rebounds off the bench.
When asked about the next step, Embiid reiterated emphatically, “We thinking playoffs.” There it is, folks.