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NEW YORK-Shooting 4-of-19 from the field in the fourth quarter isn’t going to get it done.
The Sixers ran out of steam, falling 108-102 to the New York Knicks in Game 2, falling to an 0-2 series deficit.
Tyrese Maxey started the game great as a scorer but struggled taking care of the ball. He finished with 26 points shooting 9-of-22 from the field along with six assists and six turnovers. Paul George had another three-point heater to start the game but cooled off, going for 19 points shooting 7-of-18
from the floor along with six rebounds and four assists.
VJ Edgecombe was also great with the exception of turnovers, finishing with 17 on 6-of-13 shooting along with five rebounds, three assists, and four turnovers. Kelly Oubre Jr. had 19 as well while Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 26.
Joel Embiid was ruled out earlier in the day with an ankle sprain and hip soreness. Mitchell Robinson was also a late scratch with an illness.
Here are some thoughts from MSG.
First Quarter
- George was certainly feeling it to start the game. After the Knicks’ first miss he got up the floor quick, catching the outlet pass from Andre Drummond and setting up Kelly Oubre Jr. for an open dunk. He walked into a couple pull-up jumpers and buried them both. A turnover followed by a flagrant foul called on Oubre gummed up the Sixers’ offense a bit, but as soon as the ball found George again he buried two more threes.
- It wasn’t the easiest start for Drummond, who picked up two fouls in his first six minutes of play. Four of the Knicks’ first six baskets of the game came right at the rim as he had his hands full with Karl-Anthony Towns. There were also a couple possessions early on where the Sixers’ defense was so keyed in on Brunson or Towns they lost OG Anunoby cutting wide open to the basket. Like Drummond, Towns was also called for a moving screen. Quentin Grimes was able to send him to the bench with two fouls, drawing the second on a drive.
- The George heater was much needed, but no one needed to see a pair of open threes go down more than Oubre. On top of that he was also able to steal the ball from Brunson as the Sixers started off much better against him, forcing him to miss his first three shots. While the threes were falling for the Sixers, they shot 4-of-8 on twos, missed three free throws, and turned the ball over four times in the quarter. That meant Grimes’ three to close the quarter only gave them a slim two-point lead.
Second Quarter
- Towns came back, but had to sit immediately when Maxey was able to draw his third foul. That put the Knicks’ big rotation in trouble with Ariel Hukporti also picking up three in less than four minutes of action. Speaking of, Adem Bona was one of several Sixers to look better to start this one. He had two impressive recovery blocks, one on Brunson and the other on Jose Alvarado.
- As he needed to be, Maxey was much more aggressive to start — his seven free throws (one technical) in the first half were a big part of getting New York’s bigs in foul trouble. Some of the jumpers he was settling for were certainly tough looks but he was getting them to go. Defensively, the help he and the other perimeter defenders were showing on Brunson were making it much harder on him at any point in Game 1.
- Drummond was already struggling in his second shift, allowing the Knicks to get their first four second chance points of the night. When the Knicks went to a center-less lineup they started running circles around the Sixers’ defense. They ripped off a 6-0 run that tied the game before Nick Nurse called a timeout and went back to Bona.
- For as brilliant as Maxey was scoring the ball there were just too many passes he had in the first that were just a step too late. He accounted for three of the Sixers’ nine turnovers at the break. The Knicks’ defense had also forced the Sixers into a lot of tough jumpers, some of which didn’t come close to falling. Edgecombe was able to drill a three right before the half, but Bona bulldozed Brunson trying to crash the glass, picking up a brutal third foul of the night. Luckily, Brunson split the pair so the Sixers were able to cling to a one-point lead at the break.
Third Quarter
- The passes the Sixers were trying to execute were real mid-February game level of sloppiness. Edgecombe’s inbounds to no one at the beginning of the second half at least wasn’t a live ball turnover, so they didn’t give the Knicks another fast break. The hot three-point shooting remained as Edgecombe and George each drilled one early in the half. Maxey was able to get a nice layup taking Brunson off the dribble.
- Towns had a response just about every time, drawing fouls three and four on Drummond in the process. Bona checked in and picked up his fourth when Towns caught him with a rip through. A few minutes later a Towns drive was able to draw Bona’s fifth. Dominick Barlow checked in for the first time with a little less than five left in the third.
- Offensively the Sixers were leaving too many points on the board for how much of a struggle it was to get stops. They still struggled to cut down on bad looking turnovers, and Grimes let a wide open layup slip through his hands when he couldn’t corral the pass to him.
- The sloppiness caught up with their shotmaking ability as they went nearly four minutes without a field goal. It was snapped by Barlow being able to get open in the dunker. Edgecombe briefly re-took the lead with a three, but just after that happened George picked up his fourth foul of the night. Allowing two offensive rebounds in the same possession led to a huge Anunoby three. Another find of Barlow in the dunker and Grimes getting to the line pulled the Sixers back in front by one after an even quarter.
Fourth Quarter
- The Barlow minutes continued to look great as Edgecombe was able to hit him on a roll to start the quarter. Despite the Knicks turning it over on their following two possessions the Sixers weren’t able to take advantage as George’s jumper had cooled off.
- Coming off another missed midranger by PG, the Sixers desperately needed some defense and they got it when George was able to strip Towns, then Barlow was able to block an Anunoby three. After trading five points the Knicks gave the Sixers three empty possessions Philly was unable to capitalize on. Maxey and Edgecombe each missed wide open threes too, they just couldn’t make ‘em pay.
- In the moment that felt like a massive missed opportunity, even more so when the Sixers again looked like they had run out of gas, despite a timeout happening after every other play down the stretch. The six-point lead the Knicks had been able to stretch it out to suddenly felt insurmountable as the Sixers went over five minutes without scoring.
- The Sixers had one last gasp for air when Barlow nabbed a steal with 2:19 remaining, but nearly gave it right away when Barlow turned it right over. They forced a missed corner three and Maxey got to the line, but another split only allowed him to cut it to five. The teams traded baskets before a rushed George three missed with 25 seconds remaining, ultimately sinking them. A tough loss to stomach off the heels of the Embiid news.
