By: Kylan Watson

After beating the New York Knicks on Sunday night, the Philadelphia 76ers faced off with them again for the final time in the 2023-24 NBA regular season. Both teams got a big weapon back as OG Anunoby and Tyrese Maxey were both cleared to play in this game and their returns saw a better game than what happened on Sunday. Unfortunately for the Sixers the Knicks found their offensive rhythm and blew them off the court 106-79.

New York finally got their shots to fall, and the Sixers could do nothing to stop it. The Knicks used their ball movement to create high-percentage shot opportunities that found the bottom of the net. Their shots finally falling put Philly on their heels early in this game as they were down by double-digits before they could even settle into this game. The duo of Jalen Brunson (20 points), Josh Hart (20 points, grabbed 19 rebounds, and had 10 assists), and Anunoby (14 points) combined for 54 of the Knicks 106 points. Anunoby stabilized the Knicks defense which played better tonight than they did on Sunday as they forced the Sixers to be perfect tonight and they could not answer the challenge. He took full advantage of them giving him room to operate and made sure Tobias Harris struggled throughout this game. His play emboldened his teammates to take risks and the Sixers just could not handle New York’s physicality. That was the difference in this game. The Sixers did not come to play, and the Knicks did, Philly did not have enough to handle it and that was all the Knicks needed to take this one from them.

The Sixers had every reason to give up in this game, but they came out in the second half like a new team. They erased the defensive mistakes they were making that allowed New York to get wide-open three-pointers and lay-ups. Once they eliminated the easy high-percentage opportunities, Philly cut the Knicks lead to 10 points and were an easy bucket away from taking the momentum back in the game in the third quarter. However, a turnover and an Anunoby dunk capped off that comeback attempt, that possession was a microcosm of this game for Philly. A mistake costing them points against a Knicks team that did not take them lightly in this game. Besides the returning Tyrese Maxey (19 points) doing everything he could to keep them in the game, nobody else showed up in this game to help their All-Star out. If the Sixers want to stay a top-six seed in the loaded Eastern Conference every player available has to contribute on both sides of the ball. It cannot just fall on a returning Maxey to hold the offense up; he is not the dominant two-way player Joel Embiid is. Philly does not need him to be that, but his teammates have to give him more than they did tonight. Tobias Harris and Buddy Hield have to find themselves, specifically Harris whose offensive and defensive abilities have left him during these last few weeks. Maybe, the Monstars took his talent, but he needs to find that and his offensive rhythm again if Philly is going to avoid the 2024 Play-In Tournament. Harris has to score at least 15 to 25 points a game and get back to being the best defensive player on the Sixers roster.

Philly will now prepare to face off with the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night, and they will need everybody to step up to beat the resurgent Bucks and a better defensive showing. They cannot play the soft perimeter defense they did tonight because Damian Lillard and the rest of Milwaukee’s shooters will tear them apart if they give them any room to put a shot up. Additionally, the Sixers have shown an inability over the last few games to cash in on the high-percentage shot opportunities created off of their ball movement. They have to make those shots to stand a chance at getting their first win of the season over Milwaukee on Thursday.