Knicks Come up Short vs 76ers After a Tight Battle

The Knicks fell to the 76ers 90-87 in a heartbreaking loss. The Knicks came out of halftime strong, holding the 76ers to just 38 points the rest of the game. That kept the Knickerbockers and 76ers in a tight battle down to the wire. The Garden was loud, it was like the stage was set for the New York to pull off a come from behind upset win. But an offensive possession gone bad with under a minute left and a clutch Tobias Harris 3 ball spoiled the Knicks chance for a victory.

After Marcus Morris buried a jump shot with 31.3 seconds left the Knicks led 87-86. They needed a big defensive stop. New York was playing excellent defense throughout the final 5 minutes of the game, at least until it was time for the big stop. Ben Simmons hit Tobias Harris on an inbound pass for the big 3 that put the Knicks down two points with 28 seconds to go. Mike Miller explained postgame why Harris was open for the shot, “We got bumped off. We had our coverage and we got bumped and then we got into rotations and we were just late getting there.”

The Knicks needed to respond, but their offensive possession went nowhere, except out of bounds.

“We were doing something similar then we had before, we were getting to a cleared side we had plenty of time. Our spacing broke down a little bit in there,” Interim Head Coach Mike Miller said of the offensive play that resulted in the ball going out of bounds with just seconds remaining. “They trapped me on the sideline, we didn’t have time left, so there was nothing I could do. I passed it to Jul (Julius Randle) then they just trapped him. I mean give them credit, they scouted the last play well, they played well,” Marcus Morris told the media, reflecting on the crucial play that failed.

In the final seconds, the Knicks had a little bit of hope. Furkan Korkmaz missed the first of his two free throws after the Knicks fouled him, to make the score 90-87. Marcus Morris heaved the ball from 40 feet out with 1.2 seconds left, it didn’t fall, but it looked like it had a chance for a split second there.

The biggest positive from this game was the second half effort especially defensively. The team did not roll over, they were not going to let the 76ers run away with this game. “We were trending in the right direction in game. That’s one that we should have had. You know guys came in the second half, and we emphasized turning up our physicality and that’s what we did, we played really well in the second half,” Marcus Morris said on the team holding the 76ers to 38 points in the final half.

The Knicks will look to snap a three-game losing streak Monday when they head to Cleveland to take on the Cavilers. Tip-off is a 5:00 pm ET.