76ers vs. Knicks: Sixers Explain Late Struggles on Friday Night

A rough showing in the fourth quarter against the Knicks led to another loss for the 76ers.

The Philadelphia 76ers saw their win streak snap on Wednesday night when they hosted the Washington Wizards. In a rematch of Monday night’s victory over Washington, the Wizards got payback and defeated a Joel Embiid-less Sixers team to end Philly’s three-game win streak.

The Sixers lost much more than Wednesday’s game. On Thursday afternoon, the Sixers revealed that their star guard James Harden suffered a tendon strain in his right foot. 

With that news, Harden is guaranteed to miss at least two weeks, which is when the team will re-evaluate him. Although there isn’t a guaranteed timeline for Harden’s return in place, the star guard is reportedly expected to miss a month’s worth of time, equaling roughly 15 games. 

On Friday night, the Sixers hosted the New York Knicks. Not only did they miss Harden, but the star center Joel Embiid remained out of the lineup for the third time this week as he continues to battle a non-COVID illness. In addition to Embiid, the Sixers lost one of their key backups Danuel House Jr. as he became a late scratch for the same reason as the star big man.

While shorthanded, the Sixers struggled to find a rhythm early on. Rolling out a starting lineup of Tyrese Maxey, De’Anthony Melton, PJ Tucker, Tobias Harris, and Montrezl Harrell, the Sixers drained just 34 percent of their first-quarter shots and hit on just two of their 11 three-point attempts.

Fortunately for Philly, the Knicks didn’t shoot much better from deep, and they struggled to take care of the ball, turning it over nine times. As a result of New York’s early struggles, the Sixers controlled the game from early on.

The second quarter was a different story. As the Knicks improved from the field and shot more efficiently from deep, they nearly hung 40 points on the Sixers’ defense. After outscoring Philly by six, the Knicks entered halftime with a 58-53 lead.

In the third quarter, the Sixers started to shift the momentum of the matchup. Coming out of the half, Tyrese Maxey led the charge by producing ten points in 12 minutes. Overall, the Sixers drained 46 percent of their shots and took care of the ball. Defensively, they locked in and held the Knicks to under 20 points while they garnered a nine-point lead.

It seemed the Sixers took control of the game at the right time, but New York wouldn’t allow the Sixers to close out the night without putting up a fight.

“They went small, and they started switching everything, and we stopped attacking,” said Sixers coach Doc Rivers. “We stopped trusting. I thought we did a great job of drawing and kick, and they’re a help defensive team. We did that for three quarters, and the fourth quarter I thought we tried to hold onto the game and hold onto the ball, and it cost us.” 

Throughout the start of the season, the Sixers attributed their offensive struggles to their lack of defensive stops affecting their flow on the other end. After outscoring the Knicks 30-16 in the third quarter, the Sixers couldn’t mirror their production in crunch time.

“I think the fourth quarter there where they started cutting back into the lead — at one point it was like seven points — myself, Tyrese, we get in the game, and we weren’t able to get enough quality stops to get out and run,” said Sixers veteran Tobias Harris. “I think that’s where it started first.”

Tyrese Maxey agreed with Harris’ look on the situation and took some of the accountability for the team’s struggle down the stretch.

“We couldn’t get a stop,” the guard said. “We couldn’t get into any action. We didn’t get good looks. Most of that falls on me being able to get guys in the right spot and knowing what to call, but yeah, it’s a tough one.”

Philly drained just six shots in the final 12 minutes. De’Anthony Melton, who got the Sixers’ last opportunity to get a go-ahead bucket, couldn’t get his shot to fall. After getting outscored by 11 points in the final quarter, the Sixers dropped their sixth game of the year by falling short to the Knicks 106-104.

“It just didn’t come out our way,” said Sixers center Montrezl Harrell. “Simple as that. We played with multiple different lineups, and we’re still trying to learn on the fly. We got great looks; half of them didn’t fall. Came down to get a couple of stops in the end. They hit some big-time shots at the buzzer. That’s how it went, basically.” 

The Sixers will get the next two days off to re-group and get healthy before returning to the Wells Fargo Center to face the Phoenix Suns on Monday night. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.