By: Kylan Watson
After falling to the Portland Trailblazers on Monday night, the Philadelphia 76ers faced the New York Knicks for the final time this season. The Knicks were able to dominate Philly throughout this game thanks to an explosive performance from Jose Alvarado. He scored 26 points in this game to lead his team to the 138-89 victory over the Sixers. As a result of tonight’s victory, the season series between the Sixers and Knicks is now tied with each team winning two games during the season series.
The Sixers got some sad news to start this game as Joel Embiid is dealing with some knee soreness once again and missed this contest against New York. He will be re-evaluated at the end of the All-Star break but according to Nick Nurse the swelling has already decreased from Saturday night. Embiid’s absence was felt in this contest as the Knicks found their offensive rhythm early and often in this contest by attacking the paint and Philly could not deter New York from their strategy. That opened their three-point shooting which they took full advantage of Mikal Bridges (22 points) and Karl-Anthony Towns (21 points) combined for 43 of New York’s 138 points and help the team push their lead to 30 points by half-time. Towns dominated this game without Embiid no one offered enough size to challenge him, and he was able to put points on the board from the paint.
When he plays with force the Knicks are a hard team to match up with, this was a terrible game on all sides for the Sixers. They could not buy a basket from the three-point line and besides Tyrese Maxey no one else showed up in this game. This was their first game back from a five-game road trip and the Sixers played like a team that played five games in nine days with little rest in between.
Games like this are games that you burn the tape on, but the Sixers must figure out their perimeter defensive scheme and make the rebounding battle competitive. New York had multiple opportunities to put points on the board because they were outhustling Philly’s players to loose balls and that cannot happen when you are missing Embiid and George. Luckily for the Sixers they now get a few days off to recover, and the front office needs to hit the buyout market and find a guard and a wing defender who can rebound, play defense, and can run an offense.
Credit to New York they bounced back after falling to the Indiana Pacers in overtime last night and came into this game and imposed their will on a Sixers team that was just trying to get to the All-Star break. New York showed that they are a deep team especially after adding Alvarado as the back up point guard he closed this game out for them hitting dagger after dagger in this game from the three-point line (Made 8/13 three-pointers in this tying a career high) which increased New York’s lead. This was a great night for him and if he plays like he did tonight the Knicks will be a hard out in the playoffs.
The Sixers need to take this All-Star break to get healthy and look in the mirror, they need to start the second half of the season strong next week with or without Embiid. Tyrese Maxey (32 points) needs some help and someone or multiple players need to step up to help keep the Sixers as a top six seed in the Eastern Conference. Even when Embiid returns the role players must take advantage of the increase in shooting opportunities with Jared McCain in Oklahoma City now. The Sixers need someone to fill his role to continue their dominance for the rest of the season and in the postseason.
