Harris leads rally to beat Knicks for 6th straight win
PHILADELPHIA » Tobias Harris scored 30 points, Seth Curry had 20 and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the New York Knicks 99-96 on Tuesday night for their sixth straight win.
The Sixers (28-12) maintained their grip atop the Eastern Conference standing,s in large part because Harris got hot in the final minutes. He scored seven straight points, including the tying bucket from 3-feet out and a go-ahead layup that made it 96-92. He then walked off the court yelling “I’m an All-Star!” Harris believed he should have joined teammates Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid in Atlanta.
Simmons had 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Julius Randle had 19 points and 16 rebounds for the Knicks, and RJ Barrett scored 17 points.
The Sixers, again playing without injured All-Star Joel Embiid, had won all three games since the All-Star break by at least 22 points. The Knicks made them work for this one.
The Sixers reserves rallied them in the fourth. Matisse Thybulle and Furkan Korkmaz buried consecutive 3s that brought the Sixers within four and they stayed on the court when Simmons and Harris checked back into the game. Dwight Howard kept it a four-point game on a clean block on Randle’s drive — no restrwaint needed — and Simmons scored consecutive baskets that made it 89-87.
Curry gave the Sixers a 90-89 lead when he buried a 3 with 5:01 left.
Randle had to be held back by Knicks teammates after the buzzer following a call that went against him in the final seconds of a loss a night earlier to Brooklyn. The AllStar forward was furious when he was whistled for a travel and the play was not reviewed. Randle’s first season in New York has otherwise been fantastic. The crowd of about 3,000 fans was sprinkled with Knicks fans and there was a brief “MVP!” chant when he went to the free-throw line in the first half. The Sixers promptly turned up the artificial noise.
76ers coach Doc Rivers’ scouting report was more than just some film. His son, Knicks guard Austin Rivers, had told him that Randle had blossomed in New York.
“Austin just raves about what type of human being he is, how he’s a great passer and outworks everyone in the gym, how all his teammates love him,” Doc Rivers said. “Julius Randle didn’t have that narrative before. When a veteran player like Austin, who’s been in the league eight years, is saying that about a younger guy, it tells you something about Julius and what kind of guy he is.”