Awful Third Quarter Dooms Sixers as Knicks Take Matinee Matchup in Philadelphia

Joel Embiid dominated the New York Knicks to a first-half lead, but an awful third quarter doomed the Sixers in yet another loss in Philadelphia.

Here's what happened.

Embiid smells blood

The only story of the first half was no. 21. I personally do not subscribe to this line of thinking, but some would argue that Embiid had abnormal rest coming into this game because there was one off day sandwiched between the afternoon tip-off and Philadelphia's overtime victory over the Houston Rockets on Thursday. On top of that, he played 47 minutes against Houston.

I'm not sure what difference an extra four hours of rest would've done, but it did not matter. He was fresh at tip-off and smelled blood immediately. Credit to Mike Brown and the Knicks, who thought it wise to effectively go into shark-infested waters with an open wound. They deployed Karl-Anthony Towns, who was already dealing with back spasms, and Mitchell Robinson in single coverage, spoon-feeding Embiid isolations out of the face-up.

That would've been a passable strategy a year ago, when Embiid's movement and lift were limited. Given his recent run of form, the Knicks practically dared him to dominate, and he did.

Embiid scored 28 points in less than 17 minutes of action before halftime. It didn't matter which of Towns and Robinson was on the court. They took turns being rudely put in the basket by Embiid. As they upped the physicality, Embiid blew by them for scores inside. When they got handsy on post-ups, he backed them down and earned the foul. Embiid sprinkled in jumpers and even cut down the middle of the paint for a thunderous one-handed dunk.

https://t.co/0RxXgrzLau pic.twitter.com/I4NiQcLXMZ
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) January 24, 2026

Embiid's second half was far more tame by comparison, but he still finished the game with 38 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.

The dreaded third quarter

The Sixers lost the third quarter by 17 points. They scored just 13 as a team. Philadelphia allowed a four-point halftime lead flip into a 13-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter. That was undoubtedly where this game was lost, as so many have been this season.

Let's start with the offense, which was very slow and lacked purpose. The Knicks upped the physicality, making it more challenging for the Sixers to get into their base offense and get the ball to Embiid. But the Sixers didn't respond to the physicality, allowing the shot clock to be the best defense against them.

Philadelphia likes to say that they don't specifically target certain matchups on the court, that they just go out there and play the game their way. That is true at times. But they had success in the games against the Knicks in New York by making Brunson's defense a part of their game plan.

There wasn't a noticeable effort to exploit when the Knicks went with Miles McBride and Brunson on the court together, either.

The Sixers could've countered that by turning this game into a ugly brick fight. But they let the Knicks play their game to build the lead. New York won the rebounding battle in the third, 14-8. The Sixers let the Knicks rebound 40 percent of their own misses in the third. That's four opportunities for open threes, put-backs and cuts against a scrambled Sixers defense.

In some ways, the third quarter was a microcosm of the entire game, even when the Sixers played well enough to keep it even. Robinson pulled down six offensive rebounds by himself. The Knicks barely shot 44 percent from the field and 34 percent from three. That would've played to the Sixers' favor had they exhibited any resistance on the glass. But Robinson spear-headed a strong effort by the Knicks to creat extra bites at the apple.

The Knicks scored 26 second-chance points, the Sixers scored four. That's your ballgame.

The Sixers didn't help themselves with the turnover battle, either. They handed the Knicks four possessions of stops without surrendering a shot. The Knicks have been helter skelter for weeks. The Sixers helped them look like themselves on Saturday.

It is only shameful in that the Sixers otherwise played strong halfcourt defense. They chased Knicks shooters off the three-point arc all game long, x-ing out to cover their teammates in rotation. They offered good contests on Mikal Bridges, Towns and McBride, stifling three of the Knicks' most reputed shooters all game long.

The defensive strategy was also one that you'll live with. Jalen Brunson got his, but the Sixers worked hard to funnel the ball away from him. They hedged and blitzed on ball screens, pushing Brunson toward the sidelines rather than allowing him to get into the paint. But eventually, Brunson's efforts as the first domino triggered an open corner three by Landry Shamet late in the fourth, essentially putting the game away.

Would Andre Drummond have made a difference?

While the Sixers did not win Embiid's minutes, perhaps they could've had a marginal victory in the minutes he sat had Nick Nurse given consideration to Drummond over Adem Bona. The second-year big man had one rebound in nearly 12 minutes of action. Perhaps Drummond would not have had great success in thwarting the Knicks at the rim, but his rebounding prowess against the Knicks's size could've swung a possession or two in this game. After the game, Nurse told reporters there was no consideration toward using Drummond over Bona.

Spare thoughts

At this point, what exactly is there to lose by giving Jared McCain another look over Quentin Grimes? Keep in mind, this is not to say that they should both be in the rotation. Rather, this is to say that Grimes is giving you far more bad than good in his minutes. It would be one thing if Grimes were making up for his unreliable shooting by making great passing reads. As strong as his rim pressure is at times, he doesn't make consistently good decisions with the ball or even maintain control of the ball, for that matter. It would also be different if he was a ballhawk on defense, but he's not shutting down his matchup on a possession-to-possession basis, either. It's time for a change.

Every time the opposition gets an open three, watch how it's created. If the Sixers could consistently stay in front of the ball, their defense would be consistently very good. Breaking news, I know.

Been some really uninspiring play by Tyrese Maxey lately. He could use a light All-Star break.