Philadelphia narrowly defeated the Knicks 112-106 on the road, falling behind 2-3 in the overall score. This game is exactly the same as last season's semifinals and the Green Army's tie-breaker, and Embiid's performance is hard to describe. A center doesn't come up to block and dismantle, doesn't go to the inside confrontation, and will only frequently ask for the ball on the outside to play alone, and then can't beat Miro and Hatten. In addition, Embiid also wanted to learn from Jokic to play the organization, and as a result, he almost killed the team, and he was beaten back with frequent turnovers.
To be honest, Philadelphia can win today, and the Emperor has to give Maxi a knock, this guy is really against the sky. The game has said it all, Embiid was in poor shape from the first quarter, shooting frequently, but Maxey broke out, Harris finally rose again, and Philadelphia relied on two people to lead by 9 points at 26-17 in the first quarter. But in the second quarter, Philadelphia's size problem was too big, after Embiid went off the court, Reed couldn't carry the inside, and the Knicks attacked fiercely under the leadership of Brunson, he scored 13 points alone, and the Knicks played a 27-8 climax, and the difference came to 10 points.
But Maxey and Batum had a hard hand, one shot and the other was hard to chase 6 points in the half. In the second half, Maxey's attack was unstoppable, and he scored six points in a row and Philadelphia instantly overtook him. After that, the two sides exchanged offense and defense, and the Knicks led by one point in the third quarter. Philadelphia came up in the final quarter with an 8-2 lead of 5 points, and then Embiid's operation made the Knicks more and more courageous, he kept asking for the ball to shoot and then turned, the Knicks led by 6 points in the last minute, and at that moment everyone thought that Philadelphia was going to be out, and Embiid was engraved on the list of shame.
But Maxi turned on Maddie mode, he hit the key 3+1 to chase 2 points, and then Hart also gave a chance, he hit one of two free throws, and Maxi finally hit a tie for a long three points. Brunson's final attack was blocked by Batum, and the two sides went into overtime. In the last minute of the final quarter, Embiid's style of play was reasonable, he no longer asked Maxey for the ball, but took the initiative to block and create opportunities for his teammates, which was the key three points for Maxey, because at the last moment the Knicks players still wanted Embiid to shoot the last shot, but he passed.
In overtime, Embiid played a performance that everyone was satisfied with, he frequently blocked for Maxey, and also attracted defense for Oubre, and then Embiid defended the frame with all his might, and Philadelphia hit more and more fiercely and directly collapsed the Knicks. On the Knicks' side, Brunson had 40 points and 6 assists, Hart had 18 points and 9 boards, and Anunoby had 17 points and 6 boards. On the Philadelphia side, Harris had 19 points and 8 boards, Maxey had 46 points and 9 assists, Oubre had 14 points, Embiid had 19 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists but had 9 turnovers, but he also had a performance of 5 caps, shooting 7 of 19, and a center had a very stretched shooting percentage.
In fact, Embiid's performance in the last minute of the final quarter and in overtime is what Philadelphia fans want to see, and it is also the reason why the Celtics were able to lead 3-2 last season. While Embiid's performance on the offensive end was a disaster, he was truly a pillar of Philadelphia on the defensive end. Without him, Philadelphia wouldn't have been able to make the playoffs, and he wouldn't have had the slightest chance to play with the Knicks. But the problem is that Embiid can't see himself clearly on the offensive end. I'm all injured, so why don't you contribute more on the defensive end?
Philadelphia could see the hope of beating the Green Army in the semifinals last year because there was Harden at that time, and Embiid did not frequently ask for the ball alone, so it can be said that Philadelphia was very strong during the period when Embiid took the initiative to cooperate with Harden's tactics. Embiid and Harden have been playing blocking and dismantling, Embiid's ability to attack the frame is already stronger than Capela's, which is originally the effect of 1+1 is far greater than 2, but Embiid just doesn't want to do it, maybe this is the face problem of the team boss.
So when Philadelphia led 3-2, Embiid began to play frequently and singles again, and was eliminated by the Green Army. Harden has long said that he is very strong at blocking and dismantling with Embiid, but the Emperor just doesn't need it. Not only did this waste Embiid's chance to reach the Eastern Conference Finals, but it also wasted Harden's pay cut. Maxi was speechless today, now 2-3 behind, if Embiid continues to pout and play in the next game, Maxi will not be able to perform today. The Great needs to come to his senses and understand what the meaning of the center is, watching Jokic kill the ball inside at a critical moment, Embiid is still on that jumper, if Embiid treats himself as Capela in this round, Philadelphia still has a chance.