PLAYER GRADES: Philadelphia 76ers 126, New York Knicks 111
By Ryan Wohl
The Philadelphia 76ers enter the All-Star break on a high note after cruising to victory in New York.
The Philadelphia 76ers bounced back from a disappointing loss against the Boston Celtics last night with a promising win against the New York Knicks in their final game before the All-Star break. This was no surprise, as the New York Knicks have now lost 18 straight games as they continue their tank to pursue Zion Williamson from Duke University.
Being only the forth game since adding Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanovic, Jonathon Simmons, James Ennis III, and Mike Scott, they continued to gel together and get the offense flowing while trying to get everyone involved. The Sixers’ bench seems very improved from before the trade deadline, as they added good backup center in Boban, who is avergaing seven points per game since joining the team. Mike Scott has also provided a spark off the bench with his 39 percent three-point shooting this season.
Lets take a look at some player grades from tonights 76ers stars.
A. <strong>34 mins | 26 pts | 14 reb | 3 ast | 0 stl | 1 blk | 4 TO | 7-13 FG | 0-0 3PT| 12-14 FT | 5 PF | +9|</strong><p>JoJo bounced back from a frustrating game against the Celtics where he shot 9-22 from the field and struggled against Al Horford. It was nice to see the 7-foot-2 center stop shooting a ton of three-pointers and go back to playing bully ball underneath the basket. Also because he has some moves that this league has not seen in a very long time. Embiid will be playing in his second All-Star game on Sunday night in Charlotte, where he will be on Team Giannis looking to try to win the MVP award.</p>. C. Philadelphia 76ers. JOEL EMBIID
BEN SIMMONS. B+. <strong>35 mins | 18 pts | 4 reb | 7 ast | 1 stl | 1 blk | 5 TO | 5-7 FG |0-0 3PT| 8-14 FT | 4 PF | +7|</strong><p>Ben was very efficient tonight, shooting 71 percent from the field while only shooting seven times. This is what the team needs: efficient scorers, and everyone needs to realize for this group to work they need to be okay with not getting 15 or 20 shots every night. It was nice to see Simmons being aggressive when driving to the basket and when getting others involved in tonight’s win.</p>. PG. Philadelphia 76ers
A-. <strong>35 mins | 25 pts | 6 reb | 3 ast | 0 stl | 1 blk | 1 TO | 9-14 FG | 3-7 3PT| 4-5 FT | 3 PF | +27|</strong><p>Harris exposed the Knicks’ defense as he was scoring whenever he wanted tonight. After going 0-6 from the three point line last game which was very embarasing, he hit three of them tonight against a weak New York defense. He is fitting into the 76ers’ offense nicley, spacing the floor well when also playing alongside Jimmy Butler. Tobias is proving why is a max contract-level player in his first few games with a very strong Philadelphia team.</p>. PF. Philadelphia 76ers. TOBIAS HARRIS
<strong>19 mins | 8 pts | 1 reb | 0 ast | 0 stl | 1 blk | 0 TO | 3-8 FG | 2-6 3PT| 0-0 FT | 1 PF |-5|</strong><p>Mike Scott is a nice backup power forward fit for this team as he is a physical guy on defense and is an a little above average three point shooter too. Hopefully he can continue to hit those outside shots because that has been an area needing improvement for this team in the past. Scott will likely be apart of Brett Browns playoff rotation so we will need to see him helping this team on both ends on the floor against tough teams in Boston, Milwaukee, and Toronto.</p>. PF. Philadelphia 76ers. MIKE SCOTT. B-
A-. <strong>14 mins | 10 pts | 8 reb | 3 ast | 0 stl | 1 blk | 2 TO | 5-7 FG | 0-0 3PT| 0-0 FT | 2 PF |+6|</strong><p>Boban is showing everyone that he can play useful minutes for the Sixers. He is a good rebounder and also provides a nice scoring touch when they give it to him in a pick and roll or posting an opponent up. With his improvement and while still just getting to learn the offense, it looks like Boban has taken Jonah Bolden’s minutes that he saw before the trade deadline.</p>. C. Philadelphia 76ers. BOBAN MARJANOVIC
It is nice for the 76ers to get a win in their last game before the All-Star break. Before tonight’s win against New York, they went 7-5 against playoff teams. Some highlight wins from that very hard stretch were beating the Golden State Warriors on the road, and some impressive wins at home against the Houson Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, and Denver Nuggets.
Next. Sixers' January player rankings. dark
The Philadelphia 76ers had two players selected to the All-Star game this Sunday with Joel Embiid (Team Giannis) and Ben Simmons (Team LeBron). Ben will also participate in the Rising Stars game on Friday, where he will represent Team World. The Sixers have some tough games coming up, where they will face three playoff teams in their next four games, starting next Thursday against the Miami Heat at home.