What is the story about?
LeBron, LeBron, LeBrooooooooooooooooooooooon.
The Sixers held off a second half comeback to beat the New York Knicks 98-93 Friday night, improving to 5-1 on the season and 1-0 in NBA Cup group play.
Tyrese Maxey led the Sixers with 25 points going 10-of-19 from the field with four assists. Joel Embiid struggled from the field in the second half going for 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting but had seven rebounds and seven assists.
LeBron James had his best offensive performance as a Sixer so far, shooting
8-of-15 from the floor for 20 points along with nine rebounds including the putback to seal the game. VJ Edgecombe had a great night at doing all the little things and also hit one of the biggest threes of the game, finishing with 13 points and seven rebounds on 6-of-10 shooting.
Anfernee Simons had 21 while Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 24.
Jaylen Brown was ruled out with patellar tendinopathy in his left knee, along with Dominick Barlow, Jabari Walker, and Tacko Fall.
Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.
First Quarter
- The Sixers’ first possession saw Embiid get stripped on his first touch before Dean Wade was able to get into the scrum, save the loose ball, and get it back for a pair of free throws. The offense looked much prettier after that possession. Maxey hit a couple of jumpers, the first being a three off the catch and a second being a wide open midrange after cooking Mikal Bridges with a spin move. LeBron got to the basket for an open layup off a couple swing passes and also knocked down a three.
- Brunson missed his first three shots of the game, the last being a pull-up attempt Maxey swatted before he could get it off. Maxey’s stout defense on the possession got the crowd on its feet as he wouldn’t let Brunson by him, but Brunson swished the jumper on his second attempt as New York tried to keep pace.
- Embiid was doing a great job being the offense’s hub, and that was capped off by his second and third assists of the night. As he let the floor open up he found a cutting Edgecombe, who was doing a great job of being everywhere, for a jam. Embiid then drove towards the baseline and found KCP in the paint as he was falling out of bounds.
- After missing six of their first seven threes, New York knocked down a pair of threes to halt the Sixers’ momentum briefly. The Sixers just continued to get good shots playing through Embiid on the other hand. He got four points himself before checking out with two mintues left to go. For as well as it went, Maxey dribbled out a couple possessions into some low-quality shots and prevented them from getting out to a big lead. A layup by OG Anunoby cut the Sixers’ lead to eight after one.
Second Quarter
- It was good to see Labaron Philon Jr. in the shorthanded rotation. The only real minutes he’s gotten so far were in the loss to the Detroit, but he looked good in that game. His first shot of the night was a corner three that hit the rim short and got on the board with a floater in transiton.
- Wade was doing a great job guarding Anunoby. He made him settle for jumpers and was even able to strip the ball away from him, leading to a fast break for the Sixers’ first points of the quarter. He also forced a couple steals deflecting passes in the middle of the paint. The defense as a unit looked really good as the Knicks took over three and a half minutes to score their first points of the quarter.
- Maxey seemed to shake off those rough possessions that ended the first because he quickly was back in control of the game. The defensive plays Wade made let him run out and start possessions quickly. As much as the Knicks wanted to key in on him, he got the ball moving around the floor to create the leverages he wanted as he extended the lead with Embiid and LeBron on the bench.
- LeBron has showed off a lot of his brilliant playmaking so far but he had yet to have a dominant scoring stretch so far with the Sixers. He checked back into the game and immediately hit another three before getting to the basket for a couple of layups, drawing a foul on the second. The arena DJ played the “LeBron, LeBron, LeBron”song as he went to the line.
- In an unfortunately familiar sight, Embiid took an inadvertent forearm from Josh Hart as the two went up for a rebound. He left the game, but stayed on the bench until the end of the half and was back out for the start of the second half.
- Bridges knocked down an open three from the corner out of the ensuing timeout, but Maxey responded with another three of his own five feet behind the line. The Sixers finished the half with one last solid defensive possession, forcing a bad Brunson pass out of bounds as time expired. Philly held a nine-point lead at the break.
Third Quarter
- The ease with which Maxey was burying not just threes, but threes several feet behind the arc was a sight to behold. Especially when it’s the first points of the half for the Sixers after a couple sloppy possessions. He got free again in the midrange to force a quick timeout from Mike Brown.
- The Sixers caught some shooting luck coming out of the timeout with threes from both Bridges and Brunson going halfway down and out. Offensively the Sixers started to run into resistance in the middle of the floor. Embiid tried to force through a drive then a pass and turned the ball over on consecutive possessions. The Knicks were able to take advantage and cut the lead to five.
- A LeBron kickout to KCP for a wide open corner three was just what the Sixers needed to stop the bleeding. They took advantage of Karl-Anthony Towns gambling for a steal on the inbounds to find Anfernee Simons wide open in the corner a few possessions later. The pair of Simons and KCP did bungle a fast break opportunity, but Simons drilled a three to make up for it. He also knocked down a midrange off the dribble coming out of the Knicks’ second timeout of the quarter, but his heatcheck on the following possession fell short.
- Adem Bona’s first shift of the night was perfectly fine. He had a big block that he had to get back for and didn’t screw have any major screw ups. His second stint… did not go as well. He picked two fouls very quickly and very frustratingly. He had a slow bouncing rebound fall into his lap and still slipped, fell, and dropped the ball out of bounds. As Brusnon got to the line with 23 seconds left, Nurse pulled Bona for the last possession of the quarter. After Brunson made both, the Sixers found Simons again for his fourth three of the night, keeping the Sixers up nine.
Fourth Quarter
- Bona was back in the game and continued to struggle. He jumped so early on a pumpfake his whole body landed Towns, but Towns was able to still flip the layup up and in for the and-1. Towns also drilled a three a few possessions later. The Sixers got a couple buckets themselves, including another three from Simons, but as Bona was baited easily into an and-1 for Jordan Clarkson, Embiid and LeBron started to head to the scorer’s table.
- The Sixers overpassed a little bit on a couple possessions which got them in trouble. They also completely missed Clarkson on a boxout, who was able to snag a putback and cut it to a three-point game. Embiid looked out of rhythm all second half. LeBron ran a pick-and-pop with him, helping him get a wide open jumper at the elbow for two much needed points going into a Knicks timeout.
- They ran a very similar play after the timeout but Embiid’s attempt this time was no good. On their next trip down the floor, Maxey became the second Sixer of the quarter to get stuck at the top of the key with no dribble and the shotclock winding down. The possession after that James tried to sneak a tight pass into too small of a window. The Knicks steal led to a Towns three that once again made it a one possession game.
- Finally playing under control, Maxey and Embiid were able to draw enough attention around the perimeter for LeBron to be left wide open in the dunker spot. They tried to follow that up with another Embiid midrange, but he wasn’t able to find that rhthym.
- Embiid even pumpfaked a three and stepped in for a midrange, but he couldn’t get that one to go either. Despite Edgecombe being draped all over him, Brunson hit a three to give the Knicks the lead with a minute and a half to go.
- LeBron put the Sixers back in front by one with a midrange jumper. Brunson drove but couldn’t get past Edgecombe, and his floater didn’t fall. On the ensuing possession Maxey continued to draw doubles past the perimeter, and he kicked to Edgecombe who buried the three at the top of the key to go back up four with 32 seconds left.
- Despite a Sixers’ challenge, Brunson was able to draw Edgecombe’s fifth foul of the night as the two got tripped up on each other. Brunson split the pair at the line. The Sixers took their time, looking to get Maxey on Brunson. He drove all the way to the hoop and missed the layup, but LeBron was there to put it back and seal a crazy game of NBA Cup action.
