Knicks put Sixers on brink
Brunson wins over crowd in Philly, Embiid ticked off
Knicks 97 76ers 92 Knicks lead series 3-1
Jalen Brunson had just finished the highest-scoring game of his playoff career, the highest by a New York Knick in the post-season and he was impressed.
Not by his own performance; Brunson loathes talking about that. He meant by the Knicks fan base, which arrived in Philadelphia, took over the arena and made Joel Embiid as miserable as the guys wearing blue.
Brunson scored 47 points, added 10 assists and the Knicks beat the 76ers, 97-92, on Sunday to take a 3-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Brunson had 41 for Dallas against Utah in 2022 and for the Knicks last year against Miami, but that one came in the Game 6 that ended New York’s season. He wouldn’t let them lose Sunday, and a crowd that seemed split between big Northeast cities was decidedly proKnicks down the stretch.
“The Philadelphia fan base is — I said this before — they’re very relentless and very passionate. I mean, I’m an Eagles fan, I would know,” said Brunson, who won two national championships collegiately at Villanova.
“But seeing the Knicks here and hearing the Knicks here, it was pretty cool and it’s awesome.”
Not for Embiid, who had to hear louder “MVP! MVP!” chants for Brunson than the guy who actually won the award last season.
“Disappointing, it’s unfortunate,” Embiid said. “I’m not calling them out, but it is disappointing … Never seen it (like Sunday) and I’ve been here for 10 years. Yeah, kind of (ticks) me off, especially because Philly is considered a sports town … so it shouldn’t happen.”
But Brunson’s performance was too good not to cheer, surpassing the Knicks mark of 46 points by Bernard King in 1984.
OG Anunoby added 16 points, 14 rebounds and took on some of the defensive assignment against Embiid in the fourth quarter as the Knicks moved within a victory of the Eastern Conference semifinals for the second straight year. The No. 2-seeded Knicks can do that at home on Tuesday night.
Embiid played the entire second half after the 76ers faltered badly when he sat in the first. But the all-star centre — who has been dealing with lingering problems from his surgically repaired left knee (which he appeared to reinjure after a dunk in Game 1) and was recently diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis — couldn’t muster a basket in the fourth quarter.
“Your competitive nature is always going to take over, and I felt like they always come back in the game in this series,” Embiid said. “So I was like: I’ve got nothing to lose, just going to push myself. And obviously it didn’t work out the way I wanted it to.”
Embiid finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Tyrese Maxey added 23 points for the 76ers, who will try to force another game at home, which would be Thursday.
Josh Hart missed all of his seven shots and Donte DiVincenzo missed his first seven. But Hart grabbed 17 rebounds and the Knicks kept going after misses, especially when it was clear Embiid didn’t have the energy to keep chasing them, and scored 21 secondchance points.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said his team, which finished with a 52-42 rebound advantage, looks at offensive rebounds as valuable shots.
“So we understand how important that is,” he said, “and we’ve got some guys that are great at it. They’re relentless.”