The Philadelphia 76ers extended their season with a 112-106 overtime win over the New York Knicks in Game 5. The win forces a Game 6 back in Philadelphia on Thursday night. The Sixers are down in the series 3-2 heading into Game 6.
Tyrese Maxey led the Sixers with 46 points on 17-of-30 shooting, including 7 of 12 from beyond the arc, to go with five rebounds and nine assists. Joel Embiid finished with 19 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists, five blocks while turning the ball over nine times. Tobias Harris added 19 points and seven rebounds. Robert Covington (left knee bone bruise) was the lone player out for the Sixers.
Jalen Brunson finished with 40 points, three rebounds, six assists and three steals for the Knicks. Josh Hart totaled 18 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Julius Randle (right shoulder surgery) and Bojan Bogdanovic (left foot sprain) were out of the lineup for New York.
Here are some instant observations from a wild Game 5 victory at Madison Square Garden.
Likes:
– Maxey carried the Sixers’ offense throughout Game 5, serving as the team’s go-to option whenever they needed a basket. On a night where Embiid gave the team nothing as a scorer, the responsibility fell on Maxey’s shoulders to lead the offense. He scored 15 points in the first half, and his play only improved as the game wore on.
The Sixers spammed the dribble hand-off action between Embiid and Maxey to get the 23-year old guard open looks. He took advantage of the open space with a combination of 3-pointers and drives to the basket. The Knicks failed to seal him off the basket, leading to Maxey bursting through gaps and finishing at the rim with a crafty package of runners and reverse layups.
Maxey saved his best play for when the Sixers needed it most. With the majority of fans in Philadelphia ready to throw in the towel, Maxey stepped up to save the Sixers’ season. Philadelphia was down by six points with 29 seconds remaining when Maxey miraculously knocked down a 3-pointer while getting fouled. He drilled the free throw to cut the deficit to just two points. The Sixers fouled Hart on the other end of the floor. Hart split the free throws, leaving the door open for the Sixers to tie the game. Maxey took advantage, canning a 3-pointer from the logo to tie the contest.
HIM. pic.twitter.com/Zs38RDxiEs
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) May 1, 2024
With the Sixers’ season on the line, Maxey stepped up and had a heroic night. Any doubts about Maxey’s ability to be a star player got put to rest by his performance in Game 5. Thanks to his exploits, the Sixers live to see another day.
– Neither team got off to a strong start to Game 5. Harris was one of the few players who provided any semblance of early offense for the Sixers. He scored seven of the team’s first 12 points, including drilling a 3-pointer from the corner and a mid-range jumper. The 31-year old also played with active hands defensively, disrupting the passing lanes on more than one occasion early on.
Harris’ production carried over into the second half. He made a couple timely shots to keep the Sixers offense in rhythm. His most important points of the night came on a pair of free throws to extend the Sixers’ lead to four points with 16 seconds remaining in overtime. Harris’ strong night played an important role in extending the Sixers’ season.
– Embiid gave the Sixers very little offensively for the entirety of Game 5. However, his defensive impact in overtime was crucial to swinging the game in their direction. He had a sequence in overtime where he blocked a Hart layup, stripped the ball away from Brunson on a drive to the basket and blocked a Brunson shot at the rim. With the game in the balance, Embiid effectively locked down the paint defensively.
Dislikes:
– After largely putting together a strong series offensively, Embiid did not have it going on Tuesday night. It took him until there was 3:19 remaining in the first quarter to score his first points of the game, a free-throw line jumper. He did not look comfortable offensively, taking multiple ill-advised shots in an attempt to force the issue. Even when he had relatively good looks, he failed to knock them down.
While Embiid was not scoring the basketball, he did an effective job as a playmaker in the first half. The Knicks continued to throw a heavy diet of hedges and double teams at Embiid, forcing him to read the floor and get the ball out to the open man. He made the right play a majority of the time, but the Sixers were not taking advantage. Philadelphia shot just 27.3% from beyond the arc in the first half despite getting multiple open looks.
Joel Embiid kept creating open three-point looks in that first half, but no one on the Sixers can hit an open shot pic.twitter.com/a8xqzy1OEz
— Daniel Olinger (@dan_olinger) May 1, 2024
It was a totally different story for Embiid in the second half. He continued to provide little to nothing as a scorer. The Sixers spent far too many possessions feeding the ball to Embiid in the post, slowing down the entire offense. While he made the right plays as a passer in the first half, the same could not be said of his decision making in the second half. Embiid committed multiple poor turnovers, especially in the fourth quarter. Head coach Nick Nurse once again went with the strategy of playing Embiid the entirety of the second half. However, Embiid’s play in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter was so bad that Nurse was forced to sub him out for a brief rest in the middle of the quarter.
Embiid’s performance in this contest was far below where it needed to be with the Sixers’ season on the line. He did nothing as a scorer and committed far too many turnovers. The Sixers were fortunate they survived to force a Game 6 behind Maxey’s heroic night. The Knicks have flustered Embiid offensively over the last five quarters of basketball. If the Sixers are going to have a chance at coming back in this series, they will need Embiid to figure out New York’s defense.
– The minutes with Embiid on the bench continue to plague the Sixers in this series. They were outscored 15-8 in the roughly five minutes the big fella was not on the floor. Nurse continues to run the same lineup out there only to see the same results. He could experiment by giving Ricky Council IV some minutes in an attempt to add some energy to those lineups. Playing Embiid the entirety of the second half is not an effective solution. While putting Council on the floor might not change things, it at least has a chance of sparking an otherwise dormant Sixers offense when Embiid is on the bench.
