Knicks get deep-Sixed
Blow 16-point lead, fall to Philly
A somber David Fizdale took the podium after his Knicks team blew a 16-point lead in a 101-95 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night. It was the team’s 15th loss in 19 games, and this particular question was about his team’s continued free throw shooting struggles. “In too many of these close games, we’ve shot poorly from the free throw line,” Fizdale said. “That just continues to be a plug for us right now.”
The Knicks were 19-33 from the line on Friday night. If they shot league-average (77%), that would have covered the entire six-point margin.
But the Knicks haven’t been average — not from the foul line, not from an execution standpoint, not in any stretch of the imagination. When the Nets fell several games below .500, head coach Kenny Atkinson would say, “We are what our record is, and right now we’re below-average.”
The Knicks are 4-15. That’s one of the worst records in the NBA. They’ve lost five straight.
So when Fizdale was asked about free throws on this night, when free throws were one of many deciding factors that cost the Knicks this game, he had no real answer. The team knows these struggles are real, and what’s worse is they knock those free throws down in practice. For some reason, Fizdale says, when they get into games, the shots just don’t fall.
“Brother, I’m about to put sage in the room,” Fizdale responded, drawing laughter from the media.
The Knicks’ struggles, though, are no laughing matter.
It was never a question of whether the Knicks would blow their double-digit lead against the Sixers on Friday night.
The true suspense was in the how, as in how they turned a 16-point advantage into a 10195 loss to a team without two of its five starters. The Knicks’ lead felt surreal, as if they never truly led despite almost going up by 20. That lead was erased in the third quarter after the Sixers wore the Knicks down, officially taking their first lead since their opening bucket with 1:26 to go in the period.
In truth, there was nothing the Knicks could have done to stop the Sixers from imposing their will in the second half. They were overmatched by a team that came out flat, a team that, despite their injuries, still had the three best players on the floor.
Those three players were Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris, who played far from perfect games but were enough to close the deal in the fourth quarter. The Sixers didn’t play like a team that wanted to win. They played more like a team in a hurry to get home for Thanksgiving leftovers.
At one point in the fourth quarter, Fizdale was visibly upset with his team during a timeout.
“In that moment, we weren’t focused on our execution,” he said. “I just wanted to snap them out of it, get them back focused to what they were supposed to be doing.
“I saw them come out swinging, and I saw us kind of playing not to lose,” he later continued. “That was something I was riding them about, getting their heads back into being in attack mode and getting back to dictating tempo, and defensively being more active.”
The Knicks jumped out to a hot start early, taking a 15-4 first-quarter lead and a 51-35 advantage at the 2:36 mark in the second quarter. One reason for their early lead: RJ Barrett, who scored seven points early into the first quarter before questionable foul calls sent him to the bench.
Shortly after, the Sixers did what they should have been doing all along: They took Embiid off the three-point line and parked his 7-foot, 280pound frame down low. There was no answer from the Knicks, much like there is no answer from many of the league’s teams. Embiid shot 0-of-4 from three-point range and had a particularly poor shooting night as a whole, just 6-of-17 from the field on the night. But he was a walking mismatch for a Knicks team with no real answer down low. Embiid began dominating his matchup, either scoring or getting to the foul line where he shot 13of-15.
The Knicks often sent the double team, either on the face-up or on the first dribble. Embiid’s response was either attacking baseline, or making the pass to the open man, who in turn whipped the ball around until the perimeter the corner three was open.
One bright spot for the Knicks was Julius Randle, who finished with 22 points, including a vicious poster dunk on Sixers rookie Norvel Pelle. That moment, though, lit a fire under Pelle, who finished with four blocks on the night.
The Knicks have now dropped to 4-15 on the season, as disappointing a start on the year as one could have envisioned. The bright spots are few and far between on this roster. Kevin Knox couldn’t even get off the bench against the Sixers.
Maybe burning some sage would do The Garden some justice.