Finishing Strong
The Knicks entered the All-Star break on as high a note as possible.
Good morning! Why can’t they play like that every night?
Knicks 138, Sixers 89
35-20 (W1); 14-13 on the road
With 55 seconds remaining in the first quarter, the Knicks had already done plenty to wash the taste of Tuesday night’s loss behind them.
Following criticism of their defensive malaise and heliocentric offense against the Pacers, New York flew out of the gate like they’d all just downed triple espressos. On defense, they limited Philly to 9-of-24 shooting while forcing five turnovers and sending the Sixers to the line for just four free throws. On offense, 11 of the Knicks’ first 12 baskets came via assist (as opposed to just three for Philly), with the lone unassisted bucket coming on a Karl-Anthony Towns put-back.
Even with Joel Embiid sidelined and Paul George suspended, it was as impressive a two-way start as we’ve seen from the them all season.
And yet, after racing out to a 16-4 lead, the Sixers were still hanging around, mostly thanks to Tyrese Maxey doing Tyrese Maxey things and a few too many offensive rebounds. As a result, the lead was in the single digits. Not where you want to be after that kind of start,
That’s when Mitchell Robinson, following an offensive rebound on a Jose Alvarado missed three, turned to put the ball on the floor and drove hard along the baseline. When Mitch rose for a dunk on the same court Embiid once dragged him down by the legs, Trendon Watford committed a hard foul that had a little extra on the back end. With Robinson on the ground and Alvarado and Hart rushing to his side, Watford felt little impetus to remove himself from the area.
Jose Alvarado, it seemed, disagreed with his lack of urgency.
From that point forward, New York would outscore Philadelphia 40-19 over the remainder of the first half. The lead briefly reached 52 before settling in at 49 as the final margin.
