On April 26, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued, and in the first two matchups of the first round of the playoffs, there were a total of 5 groups of 2-0 and 3 groups of 1-1. On the whole, the West has reached the stage of renewal, the Lakers are 0-2 behind the Nuggets, the Suns are 0-2 behind the Timberwolves, and after Curry and his Warriors are out early, James and Durant, two legendary supergiants, are also facing the fate of being eliminated. The Celtics, who have the league's first regular season record, were stolen from their home court by the Heat, and the Bucks 1-1 Pacers also lost home-court advantage. In a game that ended earlier today, the Cavaliers, who had led 2-0, came to the Magic's home court and lost by 38 points directly, with no way to fight back. The 76ers sat at home to face the Knicks, and in the first two games, the 76ers lost by 7 points in one game and 3 points in the other, and in the words of coach Nas, the referees stole two wins that originally belonged to the 76ers.
Including the last game was reversed by the Knicks in the final stage, Embiid was also very dissatisfied after the game, thinking that the referee neither called a timeout to the 76ers nor blew the opponent's foul, Embiid also covered his face and choked up in an interview. In Embiid's own words, this kind of loss was even worse than being beaten by Leonard in the first place! Because the referee changed the course of the game. But in my opinion, the ceiling of the 76ers team is not high, the reason is that Embiid has been very inefficient since the play-offs and the first two games of the playoffs, but the round possession rate is close to 40%! According to the calculations given by the American media "BR", the probability of the Knicks advancing is as high as 86.3%, and the 76ers only have a 13.7% probability.
Back to this game, the Knicks start: Brunson + DiVincenzo + Hart + Anunoby + Hatten, and the 76ers starters: Maxey + Lowry + Oubre + Harris + Embiid. At the beginning of the game, Embiid began to train Harden, Anunoby blossomed inside and outside, Harden ate cakes + Brunson chased three-pointers, and the Knicks felt very good. The Oubre Thunder dunk + three points at the top of the arc led the team to overtake after suffering from a car accident but no major problems, Lowry maliciously fouled DiVincenzo in the middle section, and a mark was scraped on the right side of his eye, and then Embiid also attacked and fouled! Embiid deliberately pulled down Anunoby after falling to the ground, and was also blown a level of malice! In the second half, Hart and Brunson burst out and shot, and Maxey singled to bite the score, and the Knicks led the 76ers 29-27 in the first quarter. Back in the second quarter, Bojan took the lead in hitting a three-pointer, but Batum rained three-pointers, and combined with Embiid to overtake the score!
After Brunson stopped the bleeding with a three-pointer in the middle period, Embiid continued to train Miro, but the Knicks, led by Bojan and Anunoby, clung to the score all the way. In the second half, Brunson added three points, DiVincenzo blew up a one-arm dunk, Embiid and Maxey took turns to make fouls, and the Knicks led the 76ers 58-55 at halftime. The third quarter was the turning point, after Maxey steals and counterattacks + retreats for three minutes to tie the score, the two teams fell into a stalemate, and Maxey's three-point shot broke the balance in the middle, and Embiid and Lowry suddenly rained three-pointers, opening up a 10-point difference. After Hart's three-point shot stopped the bleeding, Oubre and Payne also bombarded on the outside, and Embiid hit another three-pointer at the end of the quarter, Embiid was really efficient in this game, scoring 18 points in 7 of 8 in the third quarter! After the third quarter, the 76ers overtook the Knicks 98-85.
In the fourth quarter of the decisive battle, Maxey led the team to a maximum of 15 points lead, but Brunson and McBride continued to chase points. In the middle of the period, Embiid continued to make kills, prompting Oubre to eat cakes, and then Embiid faced Brunson, who was a head shorter than him, and easily hit a three-pointer to open up a 15-point difference. The Knicks didn't give up, and Hart and Anunoby's three-pointers were only nine points behind. At the decisive moment, Lowry used mid-range shots and free throws to score consecutive points, and Brunson resolutely made a kill, but two points and two points really have no practical value, and I don't understand why the two sides have been competing for free throws, can the Knicks catch up with the score through free throws? In the end, the 76ers defeated the Knicks 125-114 at home, making the score 1-2!
According to the 76ers, Embiid had 50 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists, and 19 of 21 free throws, Maxey had 25 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists, Oubre had 15 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists, Harris had 8 points and 5 rebounds, and Lowry had 9 points and 4 assists. Knicks data, Brunson 39 points and 13 assists, this data is brushed out, the last moment has been making fouls, the point difference has always been 10 points, except for his own data increase, there is no value! Hart 20 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, Anunoby 17 points and 4 rebounds, Harden 14 points and 4 rebounds.
Throughout the game, the 76ers who returned to their home court had significantly improved their shooting efficiency, and after the Knicks' Harden + Mitchell Robinson got into foul trouble early, the Knicks couldn't stop Embiid. Embiid may really want to go all the way to the end, and the series of three-point rain in the third quarter made him really unable to prevent it, but to tell the truth, Embiid's projection performance lacked stability. After the 76ers suffered all kinds of unfair blows in the last game, this victory was more like a consolation, Embiid alone made more free throws than the entire Knicks team (Embiid made 21 free throws, and the Knicks made 19 free throws as a team). A game played for almost 3 hours, and the penalty was played at the last moment, this game was really boring!