Embiid Sets Career Playoff Record With 50 points
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Samori Benjamin
The last time the Knicks were in Philadelphia for a playoff game they broke out the brooms on the Spectrum floor to signify their sweep of the 76ers in three games in 1989. The Sixers have not played at the Spectrum since 1996 and the Knicks will not be sweeping Philadelphia this year. After winning the first two games of this best of the seven-game series at Madison Square Garden the Knicks entered the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night and were beaten 125-114. The star of the night was Philadelphia center Joel Embiid who is the NBA’s reigning MVP. Embiid put on an MVP performance scoring 50 points on 13-19 from the floor, 5-7 from three-point range, and he made 19 of 21 free throws.
39 Points Not Enough For Brunson And Knicks
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
The Knicks were up 58-55 at halftime but they were buried in the third quarter by an onslaught of Sixers threes. The Sixers made nine three-point shots to the Knicks two from 3-points land. It was too much for New York to overcome. Philadelphia outscored the Knicks 43-27 to open a 13-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. “We got to do better,” said Knicks Head Coach Tom Thibodeau after the game regarding the decisive third quarter.
The game was what many would expect, it was very physical. Joel Embiid was assessed a flagrant foul on Knicks center Mitchell Robinson in the second quarter when he grabbed Robinson’s legs as he attempted to dunk the ball. There was another hit on New York’s other center Isiah Hartenstein which Thibodeau felt should have been a flagrant on Embiid as well. Thibodeau wanted to express postgame that this kind of play is the norm in the postseason. “This is playoff basketball, it’s going to escalate and we’ve got to bring it,” he said. My thing is there’s two teams and they responded and now we’ve got to respond, we’ve got to do a lot better. We’ve got to fix it.” Robinson sprained his ankle later in the game and Thibodeau said he had not spoken with Robinson or the medical staff immediately after the game to update his status for Game 4.
Jalen Brunson (39 points) shot the ball much better after making just 16 of 55 shots in the first two games of the series, which was the worst shooting percentage through the first two games of a playoff series of anyone who took at least 50 shots since 1976.
Knicks now lead the series 2-1 with Game 4 in Philadelphia Sunday afternoon.
