Style doesn’t award extra points in the NBA standings, but the Knicks really tried to win this game in the ugliest way imaginable.
Both teams were missing key players and lost key playoff games, and the Knicks were unable to fully overcome their lowest-scoring first half in over nine years, leading to a come-from-behind victory in a late game. I couldn’t even do that. A head-to-head matchup at the Garden looms on Tuesday, with the 76ers at home 79-73.
Asked to rate the Knicks’ performance, Josh Hart simply replied, “Absolutely.”
In fact, in the one game in which they held the Magic to 74 points (the lowest point total allowed by the Knicks since 2012), they posted their lowest offensive output since April 2018 and the lowest of any team in the NBA this season. became.
“It was a physical, intense game. We were close. Our turnovers were probably the difference in the game,” Tom Thibodeau said of his team’s season-high tying 21 points. “Their ball pressure had a lot to do with it. So we have to do a better job of that.
“We had some chances at the end, but we had a few turnovers and that hurt us. That happens sometimes.”
Jalen Brunson (19 points) and Donte DiVincenzo (15 points) combined for the Knicks on 12-of-39 shooting and finished the game with 9-of-40 3-pointers.
“I played like a dog—t. That’s it,” Branson said.
Kelly Oubre Jr. added 18 points and Buddy Hield added 16 points for the Sixers. They also came to town limping, missing reigning league MVP Joel Embiid and first-time All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey. They have dropped 15 of their previous 21 games to move into seventh place in the Eastern Conference play-in, but are one game behind the fourth-place Knicks before Tuesday’s rematch with MSG.
“They came to our house a few weeks ago and punched us in the mouth for 48 minutes. We wanted to come out here and do the same thing,” Oubre said in February. He talked about the Knicks’ 110-96 victory in Philadelphia. twenty two.
The Sixers scored just 15 points on 7-of-24 shooting (29.2 percent) in the first quarter, missing 9-of-10 from long range.
Unfortunately for the Knicks, who got off to a slow start, they only scored 15 points with a field goal percentage of .333, leading to an ugly tie throughout the game. It was the fifth time in the last six games that the Knicks failed to score 20 points in the first quarter.
Brunson was fouled on his first field goal on a traditional three-point play, but sank a come-from-behind jumper to put the Knicks ahead 33-29 with less than three minutes left before halftime.
The struggling Knicks ended the first half with 12 turnovers and made 5 of 22 long-range shots.
DiVincenzo added a steal and a dunk to ensure the Knicks reached 30 points by at least the second quarter as the Sixers held a 37-31 advantage going into the break.
“The turnovers were out of hand,” said Hart, who had six turnovers in the game.
This was the Knicks’ lowest first-half points since January 2015, when Cole Aldrich and Cleanthony Early were in the starting lineup.
Still, DiVincenzo’s 3-ball from the corner cut the deficit to 1 point, and a minute later, he scored a reverse layup off a feed from Brunson to tie the game at 47-all.
But Hield sank two buckets from long-range shots and the Sixers battled back with a 14-5 run to reestablish a 63-56 lead entering the final quarter.
The Knicks (37-27) trailed by nine points with less than six minutes remaining, but trailed 70-63 when DiVincenzo was fouled by Oubre along the baseline with 4:04 remaining.
DiVincenzo then put his arm around a Sixers guard and tackled him to the off-field floor. In the ensuing skirmish, DiVincenzo and Isaiah Hartenstein were called for technical fouls, and Sixers’ Paul Reed was ejected for a “T.”
“I have no comment,” DiVincenzo said.
Tobias Harris missed his only technical free throw, but Reed hit a 3-pointer to open the Knicks’ hole to 10.
“It was just one night, but we had a chance to win,” Brunson said. “In the end, we didn’t play well enough. There were a lot of turnovers.
“I’ve had to be better as a player and as a leader to make sure everyone is ready, and that wasn’t the case tonight.”
