NEW YORK–The Philadelphia 76ers were looking to carry their road success into Madison Square Garden on Sunday evening as they took on the pesky New York Knicks. The Sixers entered the contest winning eight consecutive road games and they were looking to keep things moving in the right direction.
The Sixers raced out to a 21-point lead in the early going as their offense was humming and playing with pace. However, the Knicks stormed back against Philadelphia’s all-bench unit in both the second quarter and the fourth quarter which led to them taking the rhythm out of whatever the Sixers did early in order to build their lead. In the end, New York walked away with a 108-97 victory to hand the Sixers a rare road loss.
Joel Embiid had 31 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Sixers. James Harden had 12 points, 12 assists, and eight rebounds, Tobias Harris had 14 and 10 rebounds, and PJ Tucker added 10. De’Anthony Melton poured in 14 points and Tyrese Maxey had 12 off the bench.
Here are the player grades after the loss:
In order to get the Sixers off to a nice start on the offensive end, Harden was pushing the ball up the floor and getting his teammates involved. He had seven assists in the opening quarter as he masterfully was running things on the offensive end and New York had no clue how to handle any of it as Philadelphia built its lead. Whenever the Knicks looked like they were gaining some control and they were going to get a handle on things, Harden ran the pick-and-roll with Embiid and they were able to get themselves a bucket off of it. Considering how close this loss was, it would’ve been nice to get more offense from him, but overall, he was very good.
A big component of Philadelphia’s hot start was Melton knocking down three triples in the opening quarter. He was a big beneficiary of Harden’s playmaking as The Beard continued to find him for open shots from beyond the arc. Overall, Melton was able to play some solid defense and make an impact on offense which is what Philadelphia needs from him.
This was an overall good run for Harris. He was taking advantage of the open looks he received, he used his size and strength to get to the free-throw line, and he was also able to help out on the glass. He was very good defensively and provided a little bit of everything for the Sixers. He also made some timely shots which allowed the Sixers to stay in front.
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