PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers had a chance late in a home matchup with the New York Knicks. Despite missing both James Harden and Joel Embiid on Friday, they were right there, but they came up short 106-104 to the Knicks after a bad fourth-quarter collapse.
Coach Doc Rivers made a peculiar decision late in the fourth when he inserted Paul Reed into the game for PJ Tucker. Therefore, the Sixers had both Reed and Montrezl Harrell out there.
After Harrell made one of two free throws to put Philadelphia up 96-94, New York wing player Obi Toppin drilled a triple over Reed to give New York the lead for good at 97-96 with 1:43 left. The young big man just was not able to keep up with him.
“Just rebounding and size,” said coach Doc Rivers when explaining the decision to go two centers. “We went over the play. Toppin had just made a 3 over Trez the play before, we told our guys not to get sucked in, we did, and I thought we still could’ve got out there. We don’t go out to touch and the guy, give him credit. He’s making shots right now and we gave them both up
To Rivers’ point, Toppin had just made a triple to make it a 93-90 game earlier in the fourth. It was a costly substitution by Rivers to throw Reed out there against a more athletic Toppin.
Following the 3-pointer by Toppin, the Sixers then committed a turnover because the spacing wasn’t great with both Reed and Harrell out there. That then led to Jalen Brunson driving to the basket and finishing an And-1 foul from Reed to give the Knicks a 100-96 lead with 1:05 left.
OBI TOPPIN IS HOT FROM DOWNTOWN
(via @KnicksMSGN)pic.twitter.com/BPyggIjvwU
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) November 5, 2022
“I thought the biggest plays were those two 3s and then the turnover in the backcourt trying to get the ball,” Rivers added. “I think (Immanuel) Quickley, I think, accounted for four or five turnovers with us just getting the ball in bounds which, with our guards, that should never happen.”
The Sixers now have two days off before playing host to the Phoenix Suns on Monday.
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