Maxey 46+9, Brunson 15 of 32, Embiid is sluggish, leaving Harden to reveal his original form!
Text: Lao Kan Kanqiu
Editor|Lao Kan Kanqiu
On May 1, Beijing time, the first round of the NBA playoffs continued, and the Philadelphia 76ers went to New York to challenge the Knicks away. With a score of 1-3, the 76ers are already on the edge of the cliff, facing elimination after one more loss, and Embiid will usher in another season that ends without a problem. Perhaps because of injuries, Embiid's playoff performance was a far cry from what he did during the regular season. Before the game, the American media ESPN also gave a winning rate prediction: the 76ers have a winning rate of 46.0%, and the Knicks have a 54.0% winning rate.
In fact, although Randle, another core of the Knicks, was reimbursed for the season, the team played very tenaciously under the leadership of Brunson, with the help of Anunoby, Hart, DiVincenzo and other defensive giants. In the first round, G1 played inextricably with the 76ers, narrowly won by 7 points, G2 fought until the last moment, and staged a magical reversal, and G3 lost under Embiid's 50-point performance, and then completed a big reversal in G4. The tenacity of this Knicks team is in stark contrast to the 76ers' rampage.
In terms of injuries, the 76ers' Covington and Melton are absent, and the starting five are: Embiid, Lowry, Maxey, Oubre, Harris, and the Knicks' Randle and Bogdanovic are absent, and Mitchell Robinson is doubtful, and the starting lineup is: Brunson, DiVincenzo, Hart, Anunoby, and Hartenstein.
At the beginning of the first quarter, the two teams started with a continuous game, Harris started with a three-point shot at the top of the arc and fell to take the lead for the 76ers, Maxey scored 5 points in a row, and the 76ers played a perfect start of 10-2 to stop the Knicks directly. After the pause, Thibodeau changed his defensive strategy and chose to wrap Embiid, causing the latter to make a series of mistakes, Anunoby passed Harris, stepped back and hit a long shot, and then defended the defensive round, making up for the front hat Embiid, which was simply offensive and defensive. After Embiid pushed away Miro, he broke through to make a layup and made one of two free throws, and only scored 3 points in 1 of 5 in the opening game, and he played very depressed today. Oubre was pushed down by Miro during the block, and the two clashed, and the referee reviewed the footage and awarded a common foul. Batum touched the ball out of bounds but still won possession, Thibodeau countered before he could challenge Maxey, and also caused a foul, and the 76ers led the Knicks by nine points at 26-17 after the first quarter.
Embiid struggled very hard in the first quarter, making only 1 of 5 shots, and Maxey withstood the pressure to score 11 points. Back in the second quarter, Brunson scored 4 points in a row, Anunoby chased three points, Miro once again hit the big hat Embiid shot, it was too exaggerated, Hart held the ball and pushed the counterattack, passed the ball McBride scored 5 points in a row, Brunson stopped and shot can still have, the Knicks played an 18-2 offensive climax, and they have overtaken and led to 7 points. Embiid's three-point strong shot did not touch the frame, it was really sticky, he had made 1 of 7 shots, and then the hook hand under the basket still missed, and after scoring a three-pointer, he broke through with the ball in the next round and directly swung his elbow to Miro's face, and was whistled for an offensive foul, Nas chose to challenge, and the referee upheld the original verdict after replaying. Brunson hit a three-pointer, Maxey faced the three-point defense, hit the buzzer, and today it was all your offense to keep chasing points, and at halftime, the 76ers trailed by six points at 43-49.
Throughout the first half, Embiid's play was simply disastrous, in addition to sticking the ball and throwing the pot, the defensive end was not right, only 3 of 10 shots in the half, got 8 points, 9 boards, 3 assists and 2 blocks, Maxey cut 15 points, 2 boards and 2 assists, Harris made 4 of 6, got 10 points, 2 boards and 1 block. Brunson also had 15 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal. It is worth mentioning that in the first half, the two teams made a total of 36 three-point shots and 10 shots, and they didn't feel good.
Yibian fought again, Maxey continued the hot feeling, and scored 4 points in a row to help the 76ers play a wave of 10-2 offensive climax, successfully overtaking the score and directly stopping the Knicks. After the timeout, Hart made a pass error, Embiid hit a shot on the counterattack, and then received the ball at the top of the arc, forced Harden to turn and throw and hit a foul. Maxey then counterattacked, flying to the basket against the three-man defense, but was chased by DiVincenzo and fanned out of bounds. Harris hit an open three-pointer, Payne also had a three-pointer at the top of the arc, and after the third quarter, the 76ers still trailed by one point at 69-79.
In the fourth quarter, Maxey first broke through and hit a layup, and then broke Batum with three points, and the 76ers stopped the Knicks by 4 points. After the timeout, the two teams fought a battle for three minutes in a row, Payne chased Brunson and pulled it down, and then the two had a verbal altercation. Maxey changed direction and beat McBride to hit a three-point shot, the latter shook the shot and returned the color, Embiid has made 8 turnovers in 2 consecutive turnovers, which is too demoralizing, and Nas had no choice but to suspend and replace Embiid on the five-small, but he was blown up by the Knicks again. Only three rounds later, Embiid returned to the court, and then turned around in the low post and was cut by the ball again, Oubre received the ball and dunked, and at the critical moment, Maxi hit 3+1, and then hit the logo super long three points, and successfully dragged it into overtime.
In overtime, Maxey missed three points, the Knicks scored 5 points in a row, Maxey hit another three points at the critical moment, Embiid maliciously fouled, Brunson hit one of two free throws, and hit three points, Oubre hit a fast break, Brunson made a series of mistakes and missed the basket, and finally the 76ers relied on Maxey's perfect performance to complete a 10-point reversal, and the big score of 2-3 still retains suspense.
I have to say that Embiid left Harden and directly revealed his original form in the playoffs, and he is still the pseudo-supergiant. Last season, Harden used two super kills to lead the 76ers and the Celtics to fight to the seven-tiebreaker, but because of physical problems, he did not play well, so he was questioned by the outside world that he could not play a tough battle, but no one ignored Embiid's absence after the physical strength, Harden's physical strength in the first few games, this year is the best comparison, Embiid led the team is about to be out, but Harden in the absence of Leonard, four consecutive excellent performances, led the team to equalize.
In terms of statistics, on the 76ers' side, Embiid performed sluggishly, shooting 7 of 19, cutting 19 points, 16 boards, 10 assists and 9 turnovers, Maxey got 46 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists, Harris 19 points and 7 rebounds, Oubre 14 points, Lowry 0 points and 5 assists, on the Knicks side, Brunson shot 15 of 32, bombarded 40 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists, Hart cut 18 points and 9 rebounds, McBride also played strongly, bombardment 14 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, Anunoby got 17 points and 6 rebounds.