76ers

New York Knicks finish off Philadelphia 76ers 111-104 in first-round series premiere

Key crunch-time contributions from Josh Hart and OG Anunoby helped the New York Knicks close out the Philadelphia 76ers 111-104 and effectively take a 1-0 lead in the series. In a game that once felt as if the 76ers had full control, New York’s non-Jalen Brunson supporting cast supplied sound perimeter shooting and rebounding that was too much for Philadelphia to handle. 

After Joel Embiid exited ahead of schedule a few minutes before halftime due to an injury scare, it seemed that Embiid took all of the 76ers’ momentum with him to the locker room as Philadelphia couldn’t quite get back on track afterward. Here is what I saw:

Knicks dominate 76ers off the glass

Heading into tonight’s game, the 76ers had to be well aware of New York’s physical front-court and its ability to dominate the glass on both ends. However, even if Philadelphia was, the Knicks still cleaned up the boards as New York racked up 55 rebounds to the 76ers’ 33 with 55 of those boards being off the offensive glass. As a result, the Knicks tallied 28 second-chance points, while Philadelphia put up just eight.

Simply put, the 76ers couldn’t handle New York’s interior size as Joel Embiid amongst others was firmly boxed out by Isaiah Hartenstein (5 offensive rebounds) and Mitchell Robinson (7 offensive rebounds). Embiid’s lack of aggressiveness while chasing rebounds and little box-out help from his teammates proved vital.

Josh Hart (4 offensive rebounds) served as a thorn in Philadelphia’s side in many ways with offensive rebounding being one of them. Hart would emphatically crash the offensive glass by sprinting from around the arc and shockingly notched offensive boards with ease as the 76ers had no resistance off the glass.

This might be an appropriate matchup for Nick Nurse to test run bigger lineups where Joel Embiid and Paul Reed are sharing the floor or perhaps a lineup of Maxey, Oubre, Batum, Harris, and Embiid in some instances. Mo Bamba’s length and height could also prove useful against this Knicks front-court.

76ers lock up Jalen Brunson

The 76ers held Jalen Brunson to just 22 points and 7 assists (5 turnovers) on 8-26 shooting from the field in a game where Brunson faced a ton of different coverages, which threw off Brunson’s rhythm.

Philadelphia opened up on Brunson with a switching approach where Tobias Harris, Tyrese Maxey, and Kyle Lowry would all take a crack at defending the all-star guard off the point of attack after switching off a ball-screen. The 76ers also threw some zone at Brunson and the Knicks, which they had trouble navigating for most of the game.

Maxey in particular defended Brunson surprisingly well as Maxey matched up with him well in terms of size and navigated pick-and-rolls well, notching two blocks, both of which came from recovering and swatting Brunson’s pull-up attempts.

But, no one did a better job at containing Brunson off the dribble than Kelly Oubre Jr, who recorded five steals. Oubre’s length and wingspan gave Brunson trouble as Oubre easily stripped the ball on multiple occasions and threw it down on the other end. Oubre nicely navigated through Brunson’s pick-and-rolls and forced him into contested pull-up shots around the elbow. Having Oubre as Brunson’s primary defender is certainly something Nick Nurse will have in mind going forward.

Josh Hart and Miles McBride torch 76ers

Yes, Philadelphia successfully defended Jalen Brunson for the full 48 minutes, but at what cost? The Knicks’ supporting cast nobly stepped up, especially Josh Hart (22 points on 4-8 shooting from three) and Miles McBride (21 points on 5-7 perimeter shooting) who combined for 43 points.

Miles McBride mainly served as New York’s offensive spark in the non-Brunson minutes. McBride’s ability to knock down spot-up threes and get to the rim off the dribble while creating offense for others was something that the 76ers seemingly did not game-plan for. A McBride heater was just the thing New York needed to make up for Brunson’s lack of scoring.

While McBride was a constant source of offense throughout the game, it was Josh Hart who delivered a series of dagger threes that sent Philadelphia back to their Manhattan hotel. The 76ers chose to send multiple defenders at Brunson in clutch time and the star guard made instinctive reads to Hart who drilled weak-side threes as well as a highly-contested pull-up three to truly seal the deal.

If Philadelphia can consistently hold Brunson to just 30.0% shooting from the field and force anyone else to beat them, it’ll serve the 76ers well in the long term. Josh Hart and McBride will likely not shoot at such an elite rate consistently, but Philadelphia may want to adjust their defensive personnel and alter their coverages. Tobias Harris was sent in for Nicolas Batum and made a critical defensive mistake as he over-helped on Brunson leaving OG Anunoby wide open for three. 

Joel Embiid’s dominance/injury scare

After struggling in the Play-In Tournament game against the Miami Heat, Joel Embiid (29 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists) got off to a dominant start, contributing 15 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists in the first quarter on 5-9 shooting from the field. However, after throwing down a highlight reel self-alley-oop dunk at the end of the 2nd quarter, Embiid appeared to land awkwardly on his knee that sustained a meniscus injury, and walked back to the locker room under his own power.

Embiid wasn’t his dominant self after that injury scare as he wasn’t moving in an agile fashion on either end. Mitchell Robinson’s length and physicality made it difficult for Embiid to get his shots off in the low-post and he did start to settle for shots against double coverage in crunch time, but the reigning MVP did manage to get to the line quite a bit, shooting 11-12 from the foul line.

If there was one positive takeaway from Embiid in the second half, it was his passing connection with Kelly Oubre Jr. Embiid managed to command multiple defenders in the post and found Oubre Jr. back-cutting a few times as well as throwing a beautiful half-court pass to Oubre in transition. Embiid’s ability to consistently find Oubre cutting from the backdoor will be vital as Embiid continues to face aggressive defensive coverages.

Tyrese Maxey and Kyle Lowry shine for 76ers

With Embiid operating at around 60% strength, Tyrese Maxey did all he could to put the 76ers on his back and gut out a win in a hostile Madison Square Garden environment, but his effort ultimately came up short. Maxey led all scorers with 33 points and 4 assists on 14-26 shooting from the field.

Maxey’s explosiveness was most apparent in the second half where he scored 21 of his 33 points. Maxey’s ability to switch gears while attacking the paint off the catch was unbelievable as he masterfully carved his way through the heart of New York’s defense and finished at the rim. If Embiid isn’t able to perform at full strength going forward, Maxey possessing the ability to take over games is essential.

Kyle Lowry also found his groove in the last two frames as he finished with 18 points on 4-7 shooting from beyond the arc. Lowry proved himself as a reliable spot-up option who thrived off Maxey’s rim gravity. Like Nicolas Batum against Miami, Lowry’s value as a dynamic veteran player greatly helped Philadelphia on both ends of the ball. 

The 76ers will look to get even against New York in game two on Monday at 7:30 p.m. EST at Madison Square Garden on both TNT and NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Mandatory Credit: (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Freshman journalism major at Temple University, NBA/76ers contributor for The Liberty Line, and owner of Sixercountry on Instagram, which has over 40,000 followers. I am aspiring to be a credentialed 76ers reporter and top NBA personality.

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