By Tennie Sumague
EBC New York Bureau
NEW YORK (Eagle News) – It wasn’t the third quarter that killed the New York Knicks this time; it was the poor shooting late in the fourth. It was the missed jumpers and opportunities that the Philadelphia 76ers capitalized on. It was the consecutive three-pointers by Sixers Robert Covington, Dario Saric and J.J. Reddick with under four minutes left that turned an 11-point fourth quarter deficit for the Sixers to an 118-110 victory over the struggling Knicks Thursday night.
Looking to snap their eight-game losing streak against their Atlantic Division rivals, the Knicks
took an eight-point lead, 68-60 going into the third quarter. New York looked rejuvenated like the team that opened the season over .500. The team built their eight-point halftime lead into double digits (13) with great ball movement and team chemistry, something not seen since Kristaps Porzingis was in the lineup.
Then the Sixers woke up, fought, conquered and seized control of the game from all corners of the court. All-Star Center Joel Embiid started the comeback trail in the fourth quarter with a driving layup to cut the Knicks lead to four.
Saric hit a three to get the Sixers by one. After Ben Simmons missed both free throws and an Enes Kanter miss jump shot for the Knicks, Covington converted a three on a Simmons’ assist that gave the Sixers their first lead since the second quarter, 106-104 with 3:23 remaining.
Courtney Lee tied the game on the next possession but then everything went downhill for the Knicks, looking deflated and missing shots when needed. The Sixers ended the game on a 20-5 run led by Simmons triple-double of 13 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists and Embiid’s 29 points.
“It’s all about trust,” Embiid said. “This is only my 90th game or something like that. I am still getting better, trying to do a better job of being a playmaker, trying to be aggressive and situations like [this game] when we [were] down, it was my time to take over.”
Simmons’ recorded his 8th triple-double, the second most by a rookie point guard, surpassing Magic Johnson and trailing behind Oscar Robertson’s 26 triple-doubles.
Michael Beasley continued to shine for the Knicks, finishing the night with 24 points to go with 11 rebounds and six assists. His team have now lost 17 of their last 18 games.
“Transition defensive [was bad],” said Beasley. “We traded a lot of threes for twos. It has been frustrating but at the end of the day [we] have to learn from it and keep moving and try to correct [our] mistakes.”
(Eagle News Service)
