76ers Destroyed by Knicks, Fall to 23-11

The Sixers fell 128-92 on Friday Night in the Wells Fargo Center to the New York Knicks. Nick Nurse was forced to empty the bench with over 4:30 seconds remaining after their deficit fell to over 30 points. Philly played incredibly sloppy and early on it was already clear that things weren’t going to go well. Joel Embiid rolled his ankle on one of the first possessions of the game, but he stayed in and was still able to extend his 30 points, 10 rebounds streak.

Philadelphia falls to 23-11 and is the 3rd seed in the East. New York moves up to the 7 seed and is now 20-15. They are now 3-0 since the OG Anunoby trade.

The biggest problem that Philadelphia faced was other than Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid, nobody else really came to play. An argument can be made for Kelly Oubre Jr., but that’s about it. Paul Reed‘s 6 points were the highest total out of any other player. Maxey, Embiid, and Oubre Jr. scored 78% of the 92 points from Philly which shows that everybody else just did not decide the score. The New York rim protectors of Julius Randle and Isaiah Hartenstein were in Philadelphia’s face all game and Nick Nurse had to rely on his shooters to make shots around the perimeter.

His shooters did not make those shots.

The 76ers shot only 40% from the field and an abysmal 26% from three. They also shot an unimpressive 74% from the field compared to New York’s 96%. New York’s top scorers were Villanova alumni Jalen Brunson who had 30, bench 2-Guard Quentin Grimes who put up 19, and the 7-footer Isaiah Hartenstein who was able to score 17. Hartenstein has been excelling recently with his newfound minutes after Mitchell Robinson went down with an injury earlier in the season. His 17-point game comes off an unbelievable 20-rebound performance in his previous game against Chicago.

The 76ers go to right-back work on Saturday Night against Utah at Home. This will be an intriguing game, as there have been multiple rumors that former All-Star forward Lauri Markkannan could find his way in red, white, and blue uniforms by the trade deadline