In the first round of g6, Knicks defeated 76 118-115 away from home, eliminating their opponents with a big score of 4-2.
The process of this game was really exaggerated. The Knicks started vigorously and took a long lead in the first quarter. led 33-11 by 22 points at most. had a tendency to defeat the game in the first quarter;
As for the result, from the end of the first quarter to the second quarter, the 76 people counterattacked the Knicks 43-18. At the end of the half, the Knicks fell behind by 3 points 51-54.
After the start of the third quarter, the 76ers continued to work hard and widened the point difference to 10 points. However, the Knicks quickly chased the score back. At the end of the third quarter, the two teams tied at 83-83 and returned to the same level. starting line.
The fourth quarter was even more explosive. With less than 3 minutes left, after Anunoby dunked on Embiid, the Knicks led 109-101 by 8 points and seemed to have a chance to win;
However, in less than 2 minutes, 76 He then hit a 10-2 wave to chase the score to 111-111. With 34 seconds left, the two teams returned to the same starting line again.
At the critical moment, Hart stood up. When the star Brunson encountered the 76ers' tight defense, Hart caught the ball at the top of the arc and then made a key three-pointer;
In the following rounds, Embiid scored two points, but DiVincenzo and Brunson all made four tactical free throws, and the Knicks successfully accepted the victory.
There is another detail here. Before G5, the Knicks led by 6 points with less than 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter. As a result, Maxi scored a 3+1 (the subsequent referee report confirmed it was a walk) and a super long shot. The three-pointer dragged into overtime. After the game, some media questioned why the Knicks did not take the initiative to use foul tactics;
Then you will see that after DiVincenzo made two free throws in this game, led the Knicks by 3 points with 10 seconds left. Si took the initiative to foul and would rather send Maxi to the free throw line than let the opponent repeat the magic of the previous game.
For the Knicks, this is the second consecutive year that they have advanced to the second round. The last time the Knicks advanced to the second round for two consecutive years, it was back to the Ewing era. During this period, even Anthony did not do it.
In this knockout match, Brunson was still the biggest contributor. He played for 44 minutes, shooting 13 of 27, 3 of 8 three-pointers, 12 of 16 free throws, and scored 41 points, 3 rebounds and 12 assists.
In the fourth quarter, Brunson scored 14 points and 3 assists in a single quarter. During this period, he scored two three-pointers, caused a 2+1 chase, made two key free throws, and provided a key goal for Hart. It was Brunson who also assisted with three points.
In addition, several other Knicks players:
- DiVincenzo, played for 48 minutes, scored 23 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks , and made two free throws at the last moment, such an outstanding snake oil , no wonder Thibodeau likes to use
- Hart, played 46 minutes and 29 seconds, scored 16 points, 14 rebounds and 7 assists . In addition to making key three-pointers, Hart also grabbed 6 offensive rebounds. The highest score in the game
- Anunoby, played 45 minutes and 15 seconds, scored 19 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals and 3 blocks . The defensive end performed well, and the offensive end cannot be ignored. He scored 7 points in the fourth quarter. Also dunked on Embiid
——Harten, played 30 minutes, scored 14 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks, including 5 offensive rebounds
——Miro, played 18 minutes, scored 2 points 9 rebounds and 2 steals, inconspicuous offense, tried his best defensively
- McBride, played 9 minutes, plus or minus -17, quite explosive, but Brunson was not on the court in the fourth quarter and scored a three-pointer , if you think about it carefully, the whole game also won this three-pointer
The Knicks have been using a 7-man rotation since G4 (Bojan only played 1 minute in G4), and four of the main players were beaten every game. , You can say Thibodeau is iron-clad, but the Knicks can really win because of these people - just in case, we mean just in case, the Knicks finally win the championship, donating a basketball court to Villanova University is not too much. Bar?
In the next round of the series, the Knicks will face the Pacers . These two teams are old enemies in the 1990s. They met 6 times from 1993 to 2000 and won 3 times each. Later, the Knicks in the Anthony era also They met George's Pacers in the 2013 playoffs, 11 years ago.
The main highlight of this round is Brunson vs. Haliburton . The duel between the two top point guards, and the meeting of old teammates Anunoby and Siakam are also worth looking forward to.
Let’s talk about the 76ers. They didn’t even get past the first round this year.
The 76ers' role players performed well in this game. Oubre scored 17 points and Hield scored 20 points. . If it weren't for these two, the 76ers might have collapsed at the end of the first quarter. On the contrary, the core performance was poor.
Maxi, who scored 46 points in the last game and scored 7 points in 17 seconds of the fourth quarter, performed abnormally this game. He only made 6 of 18, 1 of 6 three-pointers, and scored 17 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Even if there was a tie in the fourth quarter 2+1, still can't hide the sluggish feel.
Embiid made 12 of 25 from the field, 2 of 5 three-pointers, and scored 39 points and 13 rebounds. Not bad, but he made 5 turnovers and only scored 6 points in the fourth quarter. This was also Embiid's series. an epitome of.
Throughout the series, Embiid averaged 33.0 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game. Among them, g3 scored 50 points in the game. The data is not bad at all;
but he also averaged 4 per game. .2 turnovers , and in the fourth quarter of this series, Embiid averaged only 5.8 points per game. If we exclude G3’s 15 points in the fourth quarter, ’s remaining 5 games averaged only 5.8 points per game in the fourth quarter. 4 points , it is indeed a bit ugly.
Of course, one thing worth noting is that Embiid is playing this series with an injury. It is already rare to deliver such a performance. It can also be seen from the lonely expression on his face at the end that Embiid really wants to win - - Just like when I was beaten by the Raptors and cried, how could I cry if I didn't want to win?
Just, can the 76ers really win the championship if they continue like this? They have made the playoffs for seven consecutive years, but have never reached the Eastern Conference finals . During this period, the second-in-command around Embiid has changed one after another, from Butler, Simmons, Harden to now Maxi .
It is worth mentioning that as the 76ers season ends, this team will also be disbanded. This summer, Oubre, Harris, Lowry, Batum, Hield and many other playoff players Everyone in the rotation will become a free agent, and Maxey will also become a restricted free agent.
For the 76ers, the top priority this summer is to keep Maxi. Obviously this will be a maximum salary. In addition, they can also create 65 million salary space to pursue another first-class star. According to previous reports, this star is very Probably Paul George.
We will still remember the days when the young Embiid could only show his presence on social media due to injury. It was also not long after that that Embiid shouted the slogan "Trust the process". The slogan
has been around for many years. Embiid is already 30 years old and definitely not young anymore. He has not been able to reach the Eastern Conference Finals for several consecutive seasons. Do you still believe in the process?