The duel between the Knicks and the Sixers definitely offers a good fight. Three days after their narrow victory (111-104) over Philadelphia, the New York Knicks, ranked No. 2 in the East at the end of the regular season, fought again to win (104-101) against to the Sixers – from the play-in – during game 2 of the play-offs. The Knicks therefore take a 2-0 lead in the series.
But this success was hard to achieve for Tom Thibodeau’s men. Still trailing by 5 points with 30 seconds to go (96-101), then by 2 points with 15 seconds (99-101) from the end, the Knicks came back behind in a few seconds in a crazy sequence. Jalen Brunson first closed the gap with a shot from behind the arc that went in after bouncing off the ring. Then the Sixers, put under pressure by the Knicks, completely missed their dismissal, Josh Hart stealing the ball from the arms of Tyrese Maxey and giving the ball to Donte DiVincenzo.
He missed his 3-point shot but he was able to count on Isaiah Hartenstein who recovered the rebound and allowed the ball to arrive in his hands once again. This time, DiVincenzo, alone behind the arc, did not miss the target, allowing the New Yorkers to take the lead again 13 seconds from the end (102-101). Before Ogugua “OG” Anunoby finished the job in the last 10 seconds of the game, scoring two free throws.
The Knicks took a while to find their feet
This end of the match is cruel for the Sixers carried by their two All-Stars Tyrese Maxey (who finished one rebound away from the triple-double, 35 points, 10 assists, 9 rebounds) and Joel Embiid (34 points, 10 rebounds, 6 passes). The two men, although uncertain before the match due to an illness (Maxey) and a chronic injury to the left knee (Embiid), had found their marks from the start of the match, scoring 21 of the first 25 points of their team and allowing the Sixers to take the lead at the end of the first twelve minutes (25-18), after starting with a 9-0.
Opposite, the Knicks had a lot more difficulty getting their game started, particularly in attack, where Jalen Brunson, very well controlled by the 76ers’ defensive plan, had a long time having great difficulty getting out of the pressure. But the Knicks were able to count on the contribution of Josh Hart, already very prominent three days ago during Game 1. Hart (21 points, 15 rebounds) ended up with a double-double, while Brunson ended up taking felt comfortable, finishing with 24 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
The Knicks showed a lot of desire in front of their audience to come back to level with the Sixers in the third quarter, won 30 to 21 thanks to the great activity of Isaiah Hartenstein (14 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks in total) and the absence for a few minutes of Joel Embiid. The start of the recovery of the New Yorkers in this meeting, concluded with a new victory, therefore.
