The Knicks suddenly look terrifying

Not even a week has passed since the Sixers were kings of the world, masters of the Atlantic. For the first time, they had come back from 3-1 down, and they had done it against a Celtics team that had never blown such a playoff lead and had eliminated its eternal rival – their first postseason meeting was in 1953 – every time they had crossed paths since 1982. But this is the playoffs. They do not forgive. Games pile up, and teams often do not really know how close they are to heaven or hell, where the good news ends and the problems begin.

Now, however, there is no doubt. The Sixers also lost the opener of their semifinal series against the Knicks on their home floor, 94-108, and face a 3-0 deficit that no team has ever overturned in the NBA. That is chapter 162, the latest case of the impossible challenge that, for Philadelphia, begins tomorrow. With hope at rock bottom. Although I suppose that is always how it feels for anyone staring up from that hole.

The truth is, the Sixers look drained, out of strength. Joel Embiid returned after missing Game 2 and looked exactly like what he is: a player rushed back from appendix surgery who is now dealing with ankle and hip issues. With minimal mobility and his shot missing, he was a shadow of the player who dominated, almost through presence alone, the end of the series against Boston. In this one, through two games, he is averaging 16 points and five rebounds on 36% shooting, without a single made three-pointer.

To make matters worse, Xfinity Mobile Arena seemed, however much he pleaded otherwise, like the kind of Madison Square Garden East he understandably cannot stand. Knicks fans made the trip en masse, covering the less than 93 miles between the two cities. Among them were Spike Lee and Timothée Chalamet. As the game broke open in the fourth quarter, the familiar chants from neighboring New York grew louder. And surely it was Knicks fans, too, who booed an impotent, out-of-sorts Embiid. Better to think that.

Joel Embiid’s struggles leave Philadelphia exposed

But it was not only Embiid, of course, even if the Cameroonian will always be the face of this project’s disasters – and of its joys, like the one in Boston a few days ago, its greatest in years. The Sixers are on the verge, once again, of falling short of an Eastern Conference final they have not reached since 2001. Barring a miracle, this will be their eighth semifinal defeat since then.

Tyrese Maxey was far below what his team needs from him, far from his supercharged version. The Knicks have focused their defensive attention on him and, with Mikal Bridges doing excellent work at the first point of resistance, they have knocked him out of the frantic rhythm with which he eventually unstitched the Celtics. With Maxey barely a factor, the weight of Philadelphia’s best minutes in a promising start – 9-0 out of the gate, up 12 in the first quarter – fell to Paul George. He scored 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting in that opening period… and nothing after that, going 0-for-9.

It was another disappearance from a player who, like Embiid, is clearly feeling the toll, the accumulation of playoff games – 10 already – almost every minute played in do-or-die mode. As if they were no longer built for this.

The Sixers’ bench, meanwhile, did not score a point until the fourth quarter, finishing with 11 in total, and Kelly Oubre Jr, not exactly the most beloved player among the home crowd, was at times the main support for a team that once again – as often happens – failed to control the glass. Philadelphia allowed second chances, which gave the Knicks a reprieve during a start that could have been even more lopsided, missed too many shots, sank heavily in the second quarter, 21-33, and could not come back afterward.

They corrected course as much as they could and got within four in the fourth quarter, 84-88, when two Quentin Grimes threes opened the scoring account for the substitutes of a team that, quite simply, does not appear to have the weapons to face this excellent version of the Knicks. Never mind beat them four games in a row.

The Knicks look like a team ready for the moment

The Knicks were better, with the resources to hold on when things went badly and the ruthlessness to strike when the game tilted their way. They are turning, in real time, into a team with undeniable authority, free of wild swings and reunited at just the right moment with the best possible version of themselves – the one imagined in the Big Apple when Tom Thibodeau was dismissed and Mike Brown was hired.

Since falling behind 1-2 against the Hawks, they have won six straight, something they had not done in the playoffs since 1999, the last time they reached the Finals. Back then, in 1999 and 2000, they also made their last two consecutive trips to the conference finals, which they now have within touching distance. During this 7-2 run, they have posted the best point differential ever through the first nine games of a playoff campaign: +164, ahead of the 2009 Nuggets’ +146 and the 1987 Lakers’ +140, one of the greatest teams in history.

With basic concepts to neutralize Jalen Brunson double-teams – movement and weak-side arrivals – plenty of crowd support, and a poster alley-oop dunk from Mitchell Robinson over the suffering Embiid, the Knicks gradually took control of the hinge game. It spared them complicated calculations and gives them a huge cushion, enough unless disaster strikes. Enough to advance – and enough to take care of OG Anunoby, who did not play because of hamstring discomfort and, based on what happened, can take a few more days of rest.

Landry Shamet, who made his NBA debut with the Sixers, scored 15 points off the bench, more than Philadelphia’s entire second unit and more than he had scored in the playoffs before this game, 14. Bridges, in his best version of recent months, added 23 points to his excellent defense. Josh Hart, dealing with a hand issue, supplied the heart. And the third former Villanova player, Jalen Brunson, acted as the killer, completely comfortable in the hottest minutes: 33 points and nine assists.

Brunson now has 24 playoff games with more than 30 points, more than anyone in Knicks history and, with a 24-of-51 mark – 47.1% – a better percentage, by the way, than players such as Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, Nikola Jokic or Kobe Bryant.

The Sixers have no antidote for him, or for his team. The series looks all but decided, cracked open when that final home reaction fell short in the fourth quarter. After more than a quarter of a century without reaching the NBA Finals, these look like the Knicks best prepared to do it. A now-or-never team that is piling up reasons to believe it will be now.

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Philadelphia 76ers

Stats

25 Dominick Barlow
30 Adem Bona
22 Johni Broome
1 Andre Drummond
77 VJ Edgecombe
11 Justin Edwards
21 Joel Embiid
8 Paul George
5 Quentin Grimes
7 Kyle Lowry
0 Tyrese Maxey
9 Kelly Oubre Jr.
14 Dalen Terry
33 Jabari Walker
12 Trendon Watford

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF
25 Dominick Barlow	11	2	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0/0	1/1	0/0	0	2
30 Adem Bona	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	1
22 Johni Broome	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0
1 Andre Drummond	3	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	0	0/0	0/0	0/1	0	1
77 VJ Edgecombe	40	11	7	2	5	4	2	2	0	2/2	3/4	1/5	0	4
11 Justin Edwards	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0
21 Joel Embiid	34	18	6	1	5	5	3	0	3	4/6	7/13	0/4	0	3
8 Paul George	37	15	5	3	2	3	3	2	0	0/0	3/10	3/8	0	3
5 Quentin Grimes	22	6	2	1	1	2	1	0	0	0/0	0/1	2/5	0	4
7 Kyle Lowry	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0
0 Tyrese Maxey	43	17	2	0	2	7	2	1	0	0/0	7/9	1/3	0	2
9 Kelly Oubre Jr.	35	22	8	2	6	1	0	0	0	6/6	5/11	2/5	0	4
14 Dalen Terry	2	0	1	0	1	1	0	1	0	0/0	0/2	0/0	0	1
33 Jabari Walker	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/1	0	0
12 Trendon Watford	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1/2	1/1	0/0	0	0

New York Knicks

Stats

5 Jose Alvarado
25 Mikal Bridges
11 Jalen Brunson
0 Jordan Clarkson
4 Pacôme Dadiet
51 Mohamed Diawara
3 Josh Hart
55 Ariel Hukporti
13 Tyler Kolek
2 Miles McBride
23 Mitchell Robinson
44 Landry Shamet
20 Jeremy Sochan
32 Karl-Anthony Towns

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF
5 Jose Alvarado	7	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	1/1	0	0
25 Mikal Bridges	36	23	3	0	3	1	0	2	0	5/5	6/10	2/4	0	3
11 Jalen Brunson	38	33	5	0	5	9	3	0	0	8/9	8/14	3/8	0	2
0 Jordan Clarkson	13	4	5	2	3	3	2	1	0	0/0	2/3	0/0	0	1
4 Pacôme Dadiet	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0
51 Mohamed Diawara	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0
3 Josh Hart	40	12	11	2	9	3	4	1	0	0/2	6/8	0/4	0	4
55 Ariel Hukporti	3	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0
13 Tyler Kolek	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/1	0/0	0	0
2 Miles McBride	21	3	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	0/0	0/1	1/5	0	1
23 Mitchell Robinson	18	6	6	2	4	0	0	1	1	4/8	1/3	0/0	0	2
44 Landry Shamet	26	15	3	2	1	0	2	1	0	3/4	3/3	2/3	0	3
20 Jeremy Sochan	1	1	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	1/2	0/0	0/0	0	0
32 Karl-Anthony Towns	25	8	12	4	8	7	1	0	1	2/2	3/6	0/2	0	5