Joel Emblid jumped all over the Knicks for 27 points, and 10 rebounds as the Philadelphia 76ers used a late second Quarter
run, and a big second half to handle their business against a depleted Knicks squad 109-89, on Saturday night at MSG in New York City.
We saw the Knicks play a tightly-contested first half on Wednesday, in their season opener in Indiana. However, the second half was one to forget with the visitors being outscored 60-41, on a way to a double-digit loss. Here, playing their first home game in 293 days in front of no fans, it was more of the same, as a Mitchell Robinson dunk, capped a 9-0 run to extend the Knicks lead to 45-40 midway through the second Quarter. However, the 14-0 Philly run that followed, was enough to give them a 60-55 lead going into the intermission.
The second half saw Tobias Harris impose his will on the game, as he finished with 17 points, while Emblid hit clutch shots throughout the third period, to pad the deficit for the Knicks. In fact, the only reason New York was “only” down 86-69 after 36 minutes of play when it easily could’ve been a lost worse, was due to the play of Julius Randle, and Alec Burks.
Randle submitted a terrific 25 point outing in 30 minutes, while for the second straight game, Alex Burks scored 22, with both keeping the Knicks hanging around, especially in the 4th when at one point, they cut the Philadelphia lead down to nine.
But after that, the team completely folded, as Shake Milton came in, and sunk a couple of shots off the bench, part of a 10 point night for him, to help salt the game away for good.
For the Knicks, it was upsetting to watch RJ Barret, as the sophomore put up 10 points, but was only 2 for 15 on his shots, and it hurt New York from having a serious chance at making a threatening comeback. Meanwhile, starting point guard Elfrid Payton continues to struggle, scoring zero (Yes 0) points in 18 minutes. I can’t stress this enough, NY needs a point-guard, especially with rookies Obi Toppin, and Immanuel Quickly out due to injury. Tonight’s opponent, was a streaky 76ers team, but Sunday night are the heavyweight Milwaukee Bucks at MSG, and I can only imagine what 2 time reigning MVP Giannis Atentekumpo, will do to hurt this defense tomorrow. For those of you, who would like to tune in, tip-off is at 7:30PMET
As for Philly, new coach Doc Rivers has his team starting nicely at 2-0.
Comments