The Sixers celebrated their MLK day in New York with a matchup against the Knicks. Down 76-58 with just over a minute to go in the third, the Sixers exploded to go on a 38-17 run and send things to overtime. Unfortunately, Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks made more shots down the stretch and pulled away in the second OT to claim a 119-113 victory. Ish Smith scored 16 and tallied a career-high 16 assists, becoming the first Sixers player since Dana Barros in 1995 to record that many assists on the road. Meanwhile, Nerlens Noel scored 18 points and grabbed 13 boards in 47 minutes. Jahlil Okafor scored 20 and had seven rebounds, but surprisingly didn't play a minute past the end of the third quarter. With the Sixers down 12 in the third, Okafor was taken out of the game and never returned. Sure, Ish and Nerlens were the ones who led the Sixers back into the game, but questions arose about Okafor as the game progressed into extra time. Here is some reaction to that from the team…
Brett Brown on the decision not to put Jahlil Okafor in the game in the fourth at overtime:
"(It was) really difficult," Brown said of not playing Okafor. "But you looked on the floor, Ish (Smith) and Nerlens (Noel) had a thing going where we pick-and-rolled them, we got lobs, Ish made passes, we sprinkled shooters around it. I think Jahlil, when I kept looking over at him, you feel like is it going to be his time? And you never really felt like it was. "I kept looking over there and he was an amazing teammate. First person off the bench, encouraging Nerlens. It was a very difficult decision, but that group was rolling and I didn't see any fatigue and we rode them out."
Jahlil Okafor on not playing past the third quarter:
"I've always been about the team," said Okafor. "I've been around some really great organizations and it's all about winning. That's what we're trying to do here and it was a great game."
"My teammates had it rolling," said Okafor. "They were playing phenomenal."
Kristaps Porzingis on dealing with the Sixers when Okafor is on and off the floor:
"They weren't really playing in the post," said Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis. "They were playing pick-and-roll the whole time and it was hard to stop Ish Smith and Nerlens Noel, those two guys, it was a problem for us to stop them. They're just a different team when Jahlil is not on the floor. When he's on the floor, he's a very dangerous guy on the post, very hard to stop. So they can switch it up like that."
The Sixers are off tomorrow before playing the Magic on Wednesday night at 7pm.
Quotes courtesy of CSNPhilly – http://www.csnphilly.com/basketball-philadelphia-76ers/brett-brown-rides-hot-lineup-jahlil-okafor-sits-crunch-time Brandon Apter, managing editor for Sixerdelphia
