The Knicks, who missed what could be their best chance to advance.
In the first round of G5, the Knicks, who were playing at home, led by 6 points at 96-90 less than 30 seconds before the fourth quarter, and almost won the game, but the game was over, but the score was 2-3.
In less than half a minute of the fourth quarter, Maxey completed a magical performance, he used a 3+1 and a LOGO super long three-pointer to drag the game into overtime, and then successfully brought the series back to Philadelphia.
Since records began (the 1997-98 season), teams trailing by six points with 30 seconds left in the final quarter of the playoffs have suffered a 141-game losing streak, and the 76ers became the first team to come back from six points with 30 seconds left in the final quarter of the playoffs.
There is no doubt that Maxey is the biggest contributor to the 76ers in this game.
He finished with 22 points and four assists in the fourth quarter and overtime, playing 52 minutes on 17-of-30 shooting and 7-of-12 from three-point range, finishing with 46 points, five rebounds and nine assists, and scoring 67 of the team's 112 points and assists.
However, the performance of the Knicks star Brunson in this game was not bad at all, and in the whole game, Brunson shot a total of 15 of 32, 4 of 11 three-pointers, 6 of 9 free throws, and got 40 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals.
Among them, in the fourth quarter and overtime, Brunson also scored 18 points, and he single-handedly scored 9 points in the Knicks' entire overtime, and even ate Embiid's face-slapping foul, but still failed to defend the home court.
However, Brunson also has shortcomings, at the end of the fourth quarter, after Maxey hit a three-point shot, the Knicks still had time to kill the game, but unfortunately Brunson's throw was covered by Batum;
With 18 seconds left in overtime, the Knicks trailed 106-108 and had a chance to tie or overtake, Brunson faked a real pass, but his teammates didn't react and passed out of bounds, which directly buried the game.
The 30-second lead of 6 points without using the "penalty shootout", Hart hit one of two free throws, Brunson's hasty shot in the fourth quarter was blocked and overtime pass errors all these created Maxey's "magic battle".
Fortunately, the Knicks still have match points, and they only need to win one of their next two games to advance to the semifinals.
So far in this series, the reason why the Knicks have been able to take the lead is really inseparable from Brunson.
In five games so far, Brunson has averaged 43.8 minutes per game, 34.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 8.4 assists, ranking third in playing time among all players in the playoffs, first in scoring and fifth in assists.
In addition to scoring 40 points in this game, Brunson also scored 47 points, 4 rebounds and 10 assists on 18-of-34 shooting in a single game in G4, and 47 points are also the highest single-game playoff points in Knicks history, even Ewing, Bernard King, Anthony and other celebrities have never done it.
It is worth mentioning that the G4 Knicks scored 97 points as a team, and Brunson's scoring ratio (points + assists) is even more exaggerated than that of G5's Maxey and G3's Embiid (50 points per game).
Of course, Brunson also has shortcomings, and his efficiency is not good, shooting 41.9%/28.9%/78.7% from three, and his true shooting percentage is only 51.0%, which is not a small gap from 59.2% in the regular season.
But objectively speaking, Brunson can't be blamed for this, the Knicks suffered an injury crisis in this round of the series, in the case of Randle's confirmed absence, another ball carrier Bojan was also reimbursed due to injury, and Brunson was the only one in the team who could hold the ball and consume the ball.
So you will see that Brunson G5 played 51 minutes in the whole game, five games, and averaged nearly 44 minutes per game, 29.6 shots per game, third in the league in playing time, and first in the league in shots.
It needs to be said that Brunson is not the worst "picked" by the Knicks team, Hart G5 has played 53 minutes, and in the five games so far in the series, he has only rested for 12 minutes, ranking first in average playing time of 46.4 minutes per game, which can be called the strongest model worker in the league.
Anunoby also played 50 minutes in this game, and his average playing time this year is 40.8 minutes, which ranks 11th among all players.
It's normal to shorten the rotation in the playoffs, and it's not surprising that the main players play more time, so objectively speaking, I really don't blame Thibodeau.
The Knicks' real big problem is the lack of manpower and ball-handling points, which could be a concern for their next two games and the rest of the series.
In fact, in the past five games, the strength of the Knicks and the 76ers is really close, and the difference between the three games they won is only 7 points, 3 points, and 5 points.
This kind of hard work is very admirable, as long as you watch the Knicks game, it is easy to be infected by their passion, I hope they can continue, the next game, look forward to Brunson, Maxey continue to fight, and, see if Embiid will be hard in the life and death battle.