Joel Embiid’s brilliant first half and a serious late comeback push weren’t enough for the Sixers on Saturday afternoon.
They fell to a 112-109 loss to the Knicks at Xfinity Mobile Arena, dipping to 24-20 on the season. New York improved to 27-18.
Embiid posted 38 points and 11 rebounds. Tyrese Maxey had 22 points and six assists.
Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with a 31-point, six-assist outing. OG Anunoby added 23 points and seven rebounds.
The Sixers will travel to Charlotte, where they’re slated to face the Hornets on Monday night. Here are observations on their loss to the Knicks:
Elite Embiid start
Three-pointers from Karl-Anthony Towns and Brunson lifted the Knicks to a quick 6-0 lead. New York started 6 for 7 from the field and 3 for 3 from three-point range.
The Embiid-Maxey duo scored 14 of the Sixers’ first 16 points. Embiid did very strong work against Towns, who was listed as questionable going into the game with back spasms and obviously limited in the mobility department. The Sixers’ star center also continued to pass sharply following his 32-point triple-double in the team’s overtime win Thursday vs. the Rockets, including a feed to a cutting Kelly Oubre Jr. for an and-one layup.
Embiid was especially eager to join fast breaks and slammed home two dunks in the first quarter as a result. He tallied 15 points in the first on 5-for-7 shooting and was on his way to a fourth consecutive 30-point performance.
Brunson had a 14-point first quarter for New York on 5-for-7 shooting. The Sixers made a few early defensive mistakes against the Villanova product, allowing him to dribble comfortably into pull-up jumpers and snake around multiple bodies for easy baskets inside.
As for Embiid, there’s no question he’s played at an All-Star level over the past six weeks or so. Whether or not the NBA’s head coaches choose him as a reserve, that’s highly encouraging for the Sixers.
Significant weaknesses for Sixers
After dealing with first-quarter foul trouble, Paul George opened the second as the Sixers’ offensive focal point with both Embiid and Maxey out. He had a nice run, scoring seven points in the first 2:04 of the quarter.
Embiid swished a three on his first shot after checking back in to put the Sixers up 51-45. Besides Embiid, the Sixers were just 2 for 9 beyond the arc in the first half. They entered Saturday ranked 20th in three-point frequency and 17th in three-point accuracy outside of garbage time, according to Cleaning the Glass.
Another major weakness Saturday that’s also been a season-long trend was defensive rebounding. The Knicks had 26 second-chance points in the game to the Sixers’ four. Anunoby’s tip-in tied the game at 58 apiece.
Fortunately for the Sixers, Embiid kept cooking.
He drew the third foul on Towns at the 2:48 mark of the second quarter with a muscular, determined post-up that he finished off with an and-one hook shot. In the final minute of the first half, Embiid brought the ball up, waltzed through the Knicks’ defense and reached 28 points with a delicate lay-in. He didn’t miss a field goal in the second quarter.
Not enough late-game luck
The Knicks dominated the third quarter, winning the period by 17 points.
The Sixers’ offense lost almost all of its pace and crispness. Embiid had none of his team’s 13 points in the third and only attempted three shots, one of which was a desperate heave as the shot clock expired.
Along with their empty possessions, the Sixers’ miscues piled up. Brunson sunk a long-range jumper after the Knicks grabbed two offensive boards. Mitchell Robinson drove past Adem Bona and dunked on him to give New York an 86-72 lead. For good reason, the Knicks fans in Philadelphia grew more and more vocal.
Embiid missed a pair of free throws early in the fourth quarter and the Knicks’ advantage got as high as 17 points.
The Sixers then found a huge comeback surge. They made a 12-0 run to cut New York’s lead to 98-93.
The spurt featured and-one layups from both Maxey and Embiid. The Knicks missed a slew of jumpers, including several from Mikal Bridges on a 3-for-16 day. They struggled at the free throw line, too. Towns fouled out with 5:24 to go.
The Sixers continued to pressure the Knicks and came as close as 104-102 on a VJ Edgecombe three. However, they needed just about everything to bounce their way down the stretch. That didn’t happen.
Anunoby drilled a corner three and former Sixers draft pick Landry Shamet’s triple on the Knicks’ next trip seemed like it would serve as the dagger.
The game wasn’t over, though. The Sixers capitalized on a couple of lapses in concentration by the Knicks and pulled within 110-107 when Edgecombe knocked down two free throws.
Brunson was whistled for an offensive foul on the ensuing inbounds play when he pushed Edgecombe as he tried to break free. The Knicks challenged and the officials overturned the call, assessing Edgecombe an away-from-the-play foul. Brunson made his free throw.
The final 10 seconds were very odd, which has become the norm for the Sixers late in games. It appeared that the officials did not blow a whistle on three occasions where a player tried to take an intentional foul (two from the Knicks, one from the Sixers).
Unsurprisingly, the Sixers’ consensus was that the officials missed fouls on Maxey and Embiid. Crew chief Tony Brothers said in a postgame pool report, “During the game, we did not observe any illegal contact” on both plays.
At the end of the day, the Sixers’ end-of-game luck was insufficient and the Knicks escaped victorious.