Text: Lao Kan Kanqiu
Editor|Lao Kan Kanqiu
On May 3, Beijing time, the first round of the NBA playoffs ushered in the Eastern focus battle, and the Philadelphia 76ers sat at home to face the New York Knicks. At present, the big score is 2-3, the 76ers G5 in the last game with Maxey's super performance, forcefully played the suspense of the game back, as a comparison, Embiid's performance in the key game successfully caused heated discussions in the media, four consecutive fatal mistakes in the fourth quarter of the key, almost buried the 76ers' efforts for a whole season, and this playoff performance was simply against the sky. Before the game, the American media ESPN also gave a winning rate prediction: the 76ers won 58.2%, and the Knicks were 41.8%.
In fact, facing the lack of a core Knicks, the 76ers should not have played so hard, at the beginning of the season, Philadelphia's record has been firmly in the top three in the East, Embiid also played an MVP-level performance again, but unfortunately suffered an unexpected knee injury in the middle of the season, the 76ers' record plummeted, and it was only through the play-offs that they locked up the seventh place in the East. I thought it would be the most likely team to play in the first round of the series, but it turned out to be a big surprise, almost being taken away by the opponent 4-1, Embiid's playoff performance has obviously returned to most people's perception of him, and he really can't play a tough playoff game. So far in the series, Embiid has shot only 4 of 22 in the final quarter of five games, with a shooting rate of less than 18.2%, especially as a center, he has grabbed a total of 4 rebounds in the final quarter of five games, and his impact on the game is almost zero, and the 76ers urgently need Embiid to show an MVP-level performance to lead them to win another game!
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, Brunson played resolutely, the two-point goal scored for the Knicks to take the lead, DiVincenzo received the ball at the top of the arc to meet the defense for three points, Hatten hit a small throw steadily, the Knicks played a 7-0 perfect start, Embiid hit a long-range shot to stop the bleeding in time, DiVincenzo used Harden to block and dismantle, stopped three points and then hit again, and then counterattacked the wing to catch the ball for three points beyond the distance, Brunson and Anunoby hit two consecutive shots, and the Knicks have extended their lead to 19 points and directly stopped the 76ers. After the timeout, Maxey broke through with the ball and hit the board against the limit of the three-man defense, and Hart hit a three-point shot at the top of the arc, and the difference was as high as 22 points. Batum hit an open three-pointer in the bottom corner to stop the bleeding in time, then grabbed a defensive rebound and caused Hart to foul, hit both free throws, and then hit a three-pointer with Payne, the 76ers played an 11-0 offensive climax, and the Knicks led by 14 points at 36-22 after the first quarter.
Coming back in the second quarter, Oubre still missed the self-throwing, Batum saw the opportunity to point the ball, DiVincenzo received the ball on the wing and still had three points, and he currently scored 12 points on 4-of-5 three-point shooting. Embiid received the ball in the restricted area against Anunoby and scored on a throw, and the 76ers narrowed the gap to 5 points and stopped the Knicks directly. After the timeout, the Knicks' offense still did not improve, there were low-level mistakes in the connection, Hield and Oubre hit three points one after another, the 76ers overtook the score, and then Hield hit a three-point drift in the bottom corner, and he had hit 5 three-pointers in the second quarter, Anunoby received the ball in the air, missed the empty basket without defense, Hield made two fouls and made two free throws, and Harden also hit the ball under the basket, and at halftime, the 76ers took a 3-point lead at 54-51.
Halftime data, on the 76ers' side, Embiid was 5 of 10 and scored 17 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block, Maxey was in a slump, shooting 1 of 6 and getting 2 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, Batum was 3 of 4 and got 10 points and 4 rebounds, and Hield became a surprise soldier, shooting 5 of 7 and got 17 points and 2 rebounds. On the Knicks' side, Brunson was 5-of-13 for 16 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists, and DiVincenzo was 4-of-10 for 13 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. It is worth mentioning that Hield averaged 0.7 points per game in the first five games, and today he scored 17 points in a single quarter, with a plus/minus of +17, the highest on the team, helping the 76ers successfully overtake the score from the adversity of falling behind by 22 points in the first quarter.
Yibian fought again, Brunson faced Embiid's defensive high throw hit to make it 2+1, Embiid turned his head and responded with two three-pointers, Harden defended Embiid to complete the steal, Hart quickly counterattacked and played 2+1 again, Embiid continued to scramble for rebounds in the frontcourt, causing two foul free throws, and then the mid-distance can still hit, Oubre steals Brunson quickly to complete the two-handed dunk, and then Lowry steals Brunson again, Maxey fast-break emergency stop three-point hit steadily, completely igniting the arena, the 76ers have led to 10 points. DiVincenzo hit a three-point shot against the defense, stopped the bleeding in time, Harden hit a series of big throws, Hart made two fouls and hit two free throws, and with Anunoby hitting a three-point shot in the bottom corner, the third quarter was played, and the two teams were tied at 83.
In the fourth quarter, the 76ers continued to grab rebounds and found Oubre to hit a three-point shot. Brunson broke through to attract the defense and passed to Anunoby, who caught the ball and hit a layup to stop the 76ers. After the timeout, after Hart grabbed the rebound in the front court, he threw it to Anunoby, and then hit three points to complete the overtake, Batum received the ball in the bottom corner, and hit a three-point shot steadily, stabilizing the morale of the army, Hield received Batum's pass and hit it again for three points, Maxey missed the shot, or Batum jumped high to complete the two-handed dunk, Brunson hit two three-pointers in a row, and then there were consecutive shots, and the Knicks led to 8 points. At the critical moment, Oubre first hit a three-pointer, and then made a rebound to help the 76ers chase 1 point, Brunson broke through the limit to hit, and added free throws, Maxey broke through to 2+1 to tie the score, Hart caught the ball at the top of the arc and hit a big open three-pointer, Embiid scored two points, and DiVincenzo hit two free throws to kill the game.
In the end, the 76ers 115-118 missed the 22-point reversal and went out in disgrace, Embiid was unwilling after the game, and left the court with tears in his eyes, Harden really saw the reality clearly, Embiid is really muddy and can't support the wall, and he really doesn't deserve Harden's assistance!
In terms of data, on the 76ers' side, Embiid scored 39 points, 13 rebounds and 2 assists, Maxey performed sluggishly, 6 of 18, got 17 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, Harris 0 points and 4 rebounds, Oubre 17 points, Lowry 0 points and 3 assists, the two wonders stood up, Hield scored 20 points, Batum 16 points and 7 rebounds, and on the Knicks side, Brunson bombarded 41 points, 3 rebounds and 12 assists, Hart scored 16 points, 14 rebounds and 7 assists, Anunoby got 19 points and 9 rebounds, DiVincenzo 23 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks, and Harten 14 points and 9 rebounds。