Joel Embiid, Sixers Snag Revenge Win vs. Knicks on Friday

The Philadelphia 76ers returned to the court on Friday night to host the New York Knicks for the second time this season.

Recently, the Sixers battled it out against the Knicks on the road. In their third outing of the year, the Sixers looked to grab a comfortable victory as they got off to a 21-point lead in the first quarter. It wouldn’t be long before the Knicks closed in on Philly’s double-digit lead.

By the fourth quarter, the Knicks turned the tables and got out in front. Eventually, the Knicks pulled off the comeback upset victory and put the Sixers away with a double-digit lead.

Two nights later, the Sixers fell short to the first-seeded Boston Celtics. On a two-game losing streak, the Sixers looked to bounce back against the Knicks in their fourth and final regular season outing against each other on Friday night.

Quarter Breakdown

1st Quarter

As expected, the questionable Joel Embiid was cleared for action. Therefore, the Sixers were at full strength, even with their newest trade acquisition Jalen McDaniels on board as the trade was made official before the game.

Although the Sixers were at full strength, they had their hands full on Friday night. From the start of the matchup, the Knicks were getting everything they wanted offensively. Within the first few minutes, the Knicks fired up a 15-5 run. Knicks guard Jalen Brunson was responsible for 13 of those points.

As New York fired off a 20-7 lead, sending the Sixers into a timeout, it seemed they couldn’t miss. Getting every look they wanted on offense, shots were falling for New York as they shot above 70 percent from the field and over 60 percent from deep within the first five minutes.

The Sixers called a quick timeout, which helped them re-group and put together a quick seven-point run, but the Knicks quickly answered back and kept control of the first quarter. At the end of one, New York possessed a 36-28 lead.

2nd Quarter

The last time the Sixers played the Knicks, Philadelphia’s bench unit struggled mightily. They hoped for different results on Friday night. This time around, there were a couple of tweaks. Instead of rolling out Montrezl Harrell at center, Doc Rivers trotted out the third-year veteran Paul Reed. And in the absence of Matisse Thybulle, who was traded, Danuel House Jr. clocked some minutes.

At the start of the second quarter, the Sixers were gaining some momentum. They started the quarter with a 10-2 run in the opening minutes, with Tyrese Maxey running the show. Eventually, the Knicks found a way to put a cap on the early run. A couple of early fouls from Reed slowed the game down. Suddenly, the Knicks gained steam with a quick 7-0 run before the Sixers started trotting out some of their starters once again.

Before Embiid returned to the court for the Sixers, New York extended their lead to ten points. The Knicks did an excellent job of maintaining their double-digit lead throughout the quarter. While the Sixers would cut into it, New York always had an answer on the offensive end. Going into halftime, the Knicks were out in front 65-59.

3rd Quarter

Coming out of the half, the Sixers needed to lock down defensively and come out firing on the other end of the floor. While the Knicks didn’t dominate in the first half, they steadily controlled the matchup.

The Sixers didn’t look any different at the beginning of the second half. As the Knicks continued to get favorable looks on the offensive end, they would get back out in front with a double-digit lead, where they would stay for around half of the third quarter.

It wasn’t until around the six-minute mark that the Sixers started teasing a potential comeback. It started with a Joel Embiid driving layup to get the score within ten points. The Sixers followed up that possession with a James Harden two-point bucket. After forcing a turnover with a steal, Tyrese Maxey breathed life into the Sixers with a 26-footer to get the game within five points.

Fired up coming out of a New York timeout, the Sixers started gaining a ton of steam and preventing easy buckets from the Knicks. After missing two-straight buckets and turning the ball over on two-straight possessions, the Knicks allowed the Sixers to capitalize. With a little over three minutes left to go, an Embiid cutting layup turned into an 87-86 lead for Philadelphia.

From that point on, the Sixers and the Knicks would trade baskets throughout the end of the third quarter, with the lead changing over twice. Although the Sixers trailed by as many as 12 points in the third quarter, they had the game within one point before heading into the fourth quarter.

4th Quarter

The Sixers have shown plenty of times this season they can be a tough fourth-quarter team. With Embiid taking a breather at the start of the fourth, Paul Reed picked up playing time once again. The game was then in the hands of James Harden.

Off two early misses from the Knicks, Harden hit a floating bank shot to get the Sixers their first lead of the fourth. While the Knicks answered with a basket of their own, Harden knocked down a three-pointer moments later.

Tyrese Maxey then followed up with a three of his own to get the Sixers out in front 100-95, forcing New York into a timeout.

The Knicks answered with an Immanuel Quickley three-pointer coming out of the timeout to get the game back within two points. At first, the Sixers struggled to maintain their offensive rhythm, missing shots, committing fouls, and losing control of the ball.

But once again, Maxey was a fire starter. By hitting a running pull-up three-ball, Maxey put Philly out in front 103-99 with eight minutes left to go. The Sixers made it back-to-back threes as Georges Niang knocked down a three on the next offensive possession to keep a five-point lead.

Eventually, Joel Embiid checked back into the game as the Sixers needed a successful closeout. Defensively, the Sixers were doing a solid job. Within the first couple of defensive stretches throughout the final five minutes, the Sixers forced a pair of turnovers. While the Sixers weren’t lighting it up from the field, they would find an answer to the Knicks’ offensive attack.

The comeback was a successful one. After getting a little bit of separation in the fourth quarter, the Sixers managed to put the Knicks away with a 119-108 victory. Sixers center Joel Embiid led the way with 35 points.