The Knicks beat Philadelphia 104-101 to give them a 2-0 overall lead. It can only be said that Philadelphia has basically gone far, and in the history of the team, Philadelphia only fell behind 0-2 and failed to advance all 14 times. And the last two Philadelphia games are not out of chance, but they are just a little bit worse at critical moments, which affects morale too much. I don't know if the Knicks want to take it away 4-0. The strengths and weaknesses of Philadelphia and the Knicks are very obvious, and Philadelphia is stronger in the backcourt because Brunson is limited by Oubre and Maxinix cannot be limited.
In terms of defensive strategy, Philadelphia has adopted a loose tactic against Hart, but Hart has responded well to Philadelphia in the last two games. Coupled with Philadelphia's soft underbelly rebounding was completely blown up by the Knicks, Harden and Miro made Embiid extremely uncomfortable, and his style of play was on the outside line, which brought about an unfavorable situation that once Embiid couldn't hit, Philadelphia couldn't grab the frontcourt rebounds at all, and then the Knicks scored easily with a defensive counterattack. In addition, Harden and Miro are also very good at grabbing rebounds, as well as Hart, a stamina monster who doesn't need to rest.
The Knicks are almost all grabbing rebounds, crazy rebounding, and Philadelphia can't match this intensity. The last loss of Philadelphia was a rebounding explosion, and the final quarter was dominated by Hart. Philadelphia came up today with adjustments, and it was good for rebounding protection. Embiid and Maxey also came out on fire early, and Philadelphia still led by seven points at 25-18 in the first quarter. In the script, as in the previous game, the Knicks fought back in the second quarter, and the difference was narrowed to 4 points.
In the second half, the Knicks played another wave, Harden tumbled under the basket, Brunson also found some touch, and then Hart was everywhere. DiVincenzo was on the outside, the Knicks had already scored 5 points in the third quarter, and Harden smashed Philadelphia to the basket alone. At the end of the quarter, Philadelphia relied entirely on Maxey to attack, Embiid had no sense of existence, the offense was iron, and the rebounds were not well protected, and they were frequently grabbed by the Knicks. But in this case, Maxi blood C tied the 7-point contrast and surpassed 5 points.
Seeing that Philadelphia was going to take away the game, Brunson hit a three-point shot in the last 45 seconds, DiVincenzo also hit a three-pointer, and the Knicks chased 6 points in 14 seconds, including Maxey's mistake at a critical moment and was stealed by Hart, and the last attack DiVincenzo missed a three-point shot, but Philadelphia did not keep the rebound, and DiVincenzo came back with another three-pointer. In the final moments, Maxey made a layup and was blocked by Hatten, and Embiid hit a three-point shot at the end. Philadelphia won 99 percent of the time in the last 45 seconds, but they just didn't get the details right and lost to that 1 percent.
For the Knicks, Harden had 14 points and 8 boards on 7-of-8 shooting, Brunson had 24 points, 8 boards and 6 assists on 8-of-29 shooting, Hart played 48 minutes and scored 21 points and 15 boards, and DiVincenzo scored 19 points on 4-of-8 three-pointers. Harris, who has the highest salary on the Philadelphia side, has 10 points, which is simply high salary and low energy, Embiid scored 34 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists in 12 of 29, but the data is okay but too soft, Maxey is 12 of 22, 5 of 11 three-pointers, 35 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists. After the game, Embiid faced an interview with reporters, so depressed that he hid his face and cried, his mentality had collapsed.
Embiid said that no one was in control of the rhythm in the final moments, and it was James Harden who said it was self-explanatory. If Harden is there, and Philadelphia leads by five points in the final 45 seconds, what will the Knicks do? We can only say that Philadelphia made a big mistake and should have given Harden a big contract last offseason. Keeping Embiid and Harden comboned, and then when Harris's contract expires, Philadelphia can go for reinforcements and use the bird cap to re-sign Maxey. Without Harden, Philadelphia has struggled to play in the play-in tournament and then the Knicks. This year's Knicks are not strong, and Harden will win at least one game on the road. That's why Maxey has always missed Harden, and Embiid is sometimes hard to put into words.