{"id":729426,"date":"2026-05-09T02:48:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T02:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/729426\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T02:48:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T02:48:16","slug":"knicks-take-3-0-series-lead-over-76ers-as-new-york-fans-cheer-on-108-94-win-in-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/729426\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks take 3-0 series lead over 76ers as New York fans cheer on 108-94 win in Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Knicks<\/a> took an insurmountable 3-0 series lead in their second-round NBA playoff matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> on Friday night, winning 108-94.<\/p>\n

Jalen Brunson<\/a> scored 33 points and dished out nine assists. Mikal Bridges<\/a> added 23 points with Josh Hart<\/a> notching 12 to give the \u201cNova Knicks<\/a>\u201d 68 combined points in Philadelphia<\/a>. The Knicks\u2019 bench also outscored the Sixers\u2019 reserves 28-11, led by 15 from Landry Shamet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New York<\/a> played without OG Anunoby<\/a>, who was sidelined with a right hamstring strain<\/a> sustained in Game 3.<\/p>\n

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Despite pleas from Joel Embiid<\/a> and the best efforts of the 76ers\u2019 ticket office, plenty of Knicks fans \u2014 including celebrity supporters Spike Lee, Tracy Morgan, Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, Ben Stiller and Fat Joe \u2014 populated Xfinity Mobile Arena and provided loud support for the road team. Once again, the Sixers\u2019 home court sounded like Madison Square Garden East<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Embiid returned to the Sixers\u2019 lineup<\/a> after missing Wednesday\u2019s Game 2 loss<\/a>. He tussled early on with Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a> in the post, though the Knicks center pulled Embiid toward the perimeter to create lanes to the basket and offensive-rebound opportunities. Sixers coach Nick Nurse adjusted by putting Dominick Barlow<\/a> on Towns, allowing Embiid to roam near the basket for rim protection and rebounding.<\/p>\n

But Towns still grappled with Embiid while playing defense, and the two fell to the floor at least two times while fighting for position. That got Towns into foul trouble, putting him on the bench with three personal fouls as eight minutes remained before halftime.<\/p>\n

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Knicks took control in second quarter<\/p>\n

The 8:20 mark of the second quarter is also when the Knicks took their first lead of the game on a 3-pointer from Jose Alvarado<\/a> that put them ahead, 38-35. That was part of an 11-3 run that included a ferocious poster dunk<\/a> by Mitchell Robinson<\/a> over Embiid on a lob from Brunson. Eventually, the Knicks outscored the Sixers 26-7 to take a 54-42 lead.<\/p>\n

Paul George<\/a> got off to a scorching start, shooting 6-for-9 in the first quarter and hitting 3-of-4 3-pointers for 15 points. Yet he went scoreless in the second quarter as the Knicks surged ahead. And he showed zero defensive effort after his bad pass was picked off by Bridges for a fast-break layup.<\/p>\n

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George went scoreless in the second half, missing his last nine shots. Kelly Oubre Jr.<\/a> led the 76ers with 22 points and eight rebounds, followed by 18 points, six boards and five assists from Embiid. Tyrese Maxey<\/a> finished with 17 points.<\/p>\n

The Knicks got a surprising spark off the bench late in the first quarter and midway through the second with nine points from Shamet, who hit four of his first five shots. That led to New York\u2019s bench outscoring Philadelphia\u2019s 16-0 in the second quarter.<\/p>\n

Kelly Oubre Jr. hit a Kawhi Leonard-like 3-pointer<\/a> from the wing as time expired to cut the Knicks\u2019 lead to 60-52 at the half. But despite the bucket, New York seized control on the court and in the crowd, not letting go on either front.<\/p>\n

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Philadelphia cut the Knicks\u2019 lead to 78-76 with 2:28 in the third quarter, helped in part by frequently fouling Robinson and hoping he would miss free throws. However, the reserve center somewhat negated that strategy by swishing four of his eight attempts. New York built its lead back up to six points at the free-throw line before Shamet knocked down a 3 to give the Knicks a nine-point advantage heading into the final 12 minutes.<\/p>\n

Game 4 is scheduled for Sunday with tip-off at 3:30 p.m. ET. An NBA team has never recovered from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series, going 0-159. Only four teams have even forced a Game 7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Knicks took an insurmountable 3-0 series lead in their second-round NBA playoff matchup with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,7479,288,936,11053,327,563,6462,4988,1260,1247,6,1136,191,741,526,678,207,1263],"class_list":["post-729426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-basketball","tag-dominick-barlow","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-joel-embiid","tag-jose-alvarado","tag-josh-hart","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-kelly-oubre-jr","tag-landry-shamet","tag-mikal-bridges","tag-mitchell-robinson","tag-nba","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-og-anunoby","tag-paul-george","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-tyrese-maxey"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116542341381118441","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}