New York Knicks Demolish Philadelphia 76ers In Marquee Eastern Conference Clash

With Joel Embiid and Paul George in street clothes, everyone knew the Philadelphia 76ers were facing an uphill climb. But nobody expected them to fall off the cliff, hit every rock on the way down, and then get buried by an avalanche at the bottom. The New York Knicks didn’t just beat the Sixers; they dismantled them, 138-89, in a game that should have legally invoked a mercy rule by halftime.

Knicks Defense Suffocates Maxey Despite 30-Point Effort

Tyrese Maxey deserves a medal for what he endured on Wednesday. With no Embiid to draw gravity and no George to space the floor, the Knicks defensive strategy was simple—swarm No. 0.

The squad sold out completely to stop Maxey. They denied him driving lanes, threw double teams at him, and basically dared anyone else in a Sixers jersey to beat them. Spoiler alert: they couldn’t.

Maxey finished with 32 points, but it was the hardest 32 points you’ll ever see. He was fighting through contact, driving into a packed paint, and trying to create something out of nothing. He earned his way to the free-throw line simply by refusing to quit, but when the defense knows you are the only threat, efficiency goes out the window.

Bench Production? The Knicks Brought a Flamethrower

Here is the stat that will keep Nick Nurse up at night: In the first half, Knicks reserve Guard Jose Alvarado had made more three-pointers than the entire Sixers roster combined.

Alvarado, who finished with 26 points, looked like Steph Curry against Philly’s porous perimeter defense. The Knicks bench mob, alongside lethal performances from Mikal Bridges (22 points) and Karl-Anthony Towns (21 points, 11 rebounds), turned this game into a track meet. New York took 43 threes compared to Philadelphia’s 30, and frankly, it felt like the Knicks were playing a different sport.

While Alvarado was scorching the nets, the Sixers’ rotation players fell flat. VJ Edgecombe struggled mightily to find his shot. Kelly Oubre Jr. brought energy but couldn’t buy a bucket. The math problem was simple: The Knicks had firepower, and the Sixers brought a knife to a nuclear war.

Frontcourt Woes Haunt Sixers Against Tall Knicks Lineup

With Embiid out, the spotlight turned to the backup bigs, and it was not a pretty sight. Nurse gave the start to Adem Bona, but that experiment lasted about as long as a hiccup. Bona looked lost. The Knicks exploited his inexperience immediately, cutting backdoor for layups three times in the first six minutes. When you’re high in coverage and letting guys sneak behind you to the rim repeatedly, you’re going to get yanked.

But Andre Drummond wasn’t exactly the savior off the bench. The veteran big man seemed to have his head in the clouds, tossing passes to ghosts in the third row and committing live-ball turnovers that led to easy Knicks run-outs. When your backup center is initiating the other team’s fast break, you know it’s going to be a long night.

It got so bad that Charles Bassey, on a 10-day contract, got significant run in the second half just because he played with a pulse. When you’re relying on 10-day contracts to save face in a 50-point blowout, things have gone fully off the rails.

A Bad Look Heading Into the Break

Losing to a good Knicks team when you are shorthanded is forgivable. Losing by nearly 50 points at home while looking completely disinterested? That’s a tougher pill to swallow. The optics were terrible. At one point, with the Sixers getting absolutely drilled, cameras caught Maxey and Embiid joking around outside the huddle during a timeout.

Nurse refused to call a timeout in the fourth quarter while Alvarado was raining fire, perhaps trying to send a message to his team to play with some pride. It didn’t work. The Sixers looked like a team that had checked out, packed up, and left the building mentally.

The Knicks head into the break feeling like contenders. The Sixers head into the break with a lot of soul-searching to do—and hopefully, a healthy Embiid waiting on the other side.