Embid and Harden Slam Knicks

 

By Andrew Rosario

 

 

Fresh off his 27 point, 8 rebound, 12 assist debut over the Minnesota Timberwolves, newly acquired guard James Harden followed that game in his first appearance as a Philadelphia 76er at Madison Square Garden Sunday afternoon. Led by center Joel Embid (37 points) The Sixers easily handled the New York Knicks 125-109. The loss was the 5th in a row for the Knicks and saw them fall 11 games under .500.

 

Harden added another triple-double to his resume scoring 29 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds. The Knicks were led by Eric Fournier and RJ Barrett who scored 24 each. Immanuel Quickley scored 21 off the bench.

 

New York trailed 38-35 after the first quarter as they missed 7 of 14 free throws. 

 

After RJ Barrett hit two free throws to bring the score 42 to 40 Philadelphia went on a 23 to 16 run ending the first half up by 9 at 65-56.

 

 

 

 

Philadelphia tried to put the scrappy Knicks away going up by 8 (69-61) in the third. New York finished the quarter outscoring the 76ers 28-22 getting within 2 at 91-89. The offense then disappeared after Philly went up 96-93. The Knicks closed the gap to 106-105 with 7:01 left and only scored 4 points the rest of the game.

 

“When you have two dynamic players like that it puts a lot of pressure on you. If you’re generating speed and there’s contact some game it’s marginal contact. It’s not a foul. Some other games it is. That’s where you have to adjust,” said Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau of Embid and Harden.

 

What a difference a year makes. This time last year, the New York Knicks were the talk of the NBA town with Julius Randle having an All Star year. They didn’t surprise anyone this year. The Derek Rose injury hasn’t helped. Thibodeau has not made adjustments. This losing streak has cost them a shot at the post season.