If the Philadelphia Sixers end up achieving the feat of eliminating the New York Knicks in the first round of the play-offs – for this a Game 7, in the Big Apple, will be necessary – Tyrese Maxey’s daggers (“stabs”) of Game 5 will probably be among the craziest sequences of these 2024 NBA play-offs.
While his team found itself in a very bad position, trailing by 6 points 26 seconds before the buzzer of a match which was to take them out of the series (New York led 3-1), Maxey (1.88 m, 23 years old ) split, in two consecutive actions, with two quite crazy winning shots. The first, at 96-90, was enhanced by a fault from inside Mitchell Robinson, who had the naivety to throw himself towards his opposite number (96-94, 48th). After a free throw scored by Josh Hart (and a missed one), the 21st in the 2020 Draft then took responsibility from more than ten meters away, showering Madison Square Garden by finding the back of the circle (97-97, 48th). “It was obligatory,” the evening’s hero then commented. He had to. Our season was on the line.”
66,7 %
This is the – small – success of the New York Knicks’ free throws in the game: 16 out of 24 in the exercise. The Philadelphia Sixers didn’t do much better with a 13 out of 19 (68.4%).
Batum’s decisive counter
In the wake of this second feat, Jalen Brunson (40 points) was able to negotiate a final attack in regulation time for the locals, but his attempt was blocked by French winger Nicolas Batum (8 points, 8 rebounds), who thus sent both teams into overtime. An additional period during which the Knicks seemed to regain the upper hand (102-97, 50th) but it was again with a long shot that Maxey revived his team’s affairs, before being replaced in particular by Joel Embiid (112 -106, ap). The pivot’s performance was partly overshadowed by the exploits of his partner but ended with a triple-double (19 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists).
“Given the fact that our No. 1 option (Embiid) was in the tough, he (Maxey) said to himself ‘I’m going to carry this team on my shoulders,’ and I encouraged him to take responsibility, his shots, to create,” appreciated his coach Nick Nurse. On the Knicks side, the defeat was hard to swallow: “It’s difficult to lose like this because we were leading by 6, 8 points and we lost a few balls,” railed coach Tom Thibodeau. We have to be better. Play harder when you lead, be more lucid. »
7
Tyrese Maxey scored 7 three-pointers (in 12 attempts) in the game.
The Sixers are not out of the woods yet, since they will have to win the next two matches in order to see the second round of the play-offs. The next meeting is set for Thursday, on the floor of Philadelphia.
