The Sixers and Knicks traded blows throughout the entire game Sunday night at the famous Madison Square Garden, in New York, before the Knickerbockers prevailed, resulting in their 15th win of the season, and defeated the Sixers, 101-91. After a hard-fought effort through the first three quarters of action, the Sixers, yet again, dropped the ball in the fourth quarter and couldn’t finish the job after failing to succeed on a multitude of opportunities to take control of the game.
The Sixers posted just 19 points in the fourth quarter and let the game slip away as the Knicks were able to hit the key shots during the key moments. Veteran seven-footer, Andrea Bargnani, who came into the game averaging 14.4 points per game, was virtually unstoppable tonight for the Knicks and led the team in scoring with 25 points in the winning effort. Second-year point guard from Miami, Shane Larkin, who has seen increased minutes from the New York staff as of late, contributed a quality evening and almost a triple-double with 15 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists. Forward, Lance Thomas, almost had himself a double-double as he accumulated 14 points on the night to go along with nine rebounds. Tim Hardaway Jr. came off the bench and hit some big shots in his 26 minutes of action resulting in 12 points and St. Joseph’s product, Langston Galloway, had a quiet 8 points to contribute in the win versus his hometown team. Besides Bargnani, it was a mixed bag of production tonight from the Knicks but everyone played valuable minutes leading to the win.
As for the Sixers, it was starting point guard Ish Smith and Hollis Thompson coming off the bench leading the way offensively as they both finished with 17 points in the loss. Smith also recorded seven assists on the night as he continues to impress Coach Brett Brown. The second tier of players included Robert Covington and Nerlens Noel, who both contributed 14 points. Noel also finished with nine rebounds on the night, just shy of another double-double. Henry Sims was the surprise of the night as he came off the bench and accumulated a quiet 12 points in just 16 minutes of game action and almost found himself in double-double territory but he was only able to grab seven rebounds. Jerami Grant had a rough outing, only picking up four points on 2/7 shooting from the floor in his 27 minutes. Furkan Aldemir was rewarded with a start tonight but his four points isn’t going to cut it. He was able to grab nine rebounds but his offensive game is too weak to be an every night starter in this league.
New York led 81-72 with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter before Hollis Thompson ignited the Sixers, leading to a 10-0 Philadelphia run. The Knicks and Sixers both traded blows over the next few minutes and Ish Smith’s layup with 2:02 remaining cut the New York lead down to two before the Knicks scampered off on an 8-0 run to wrap things up.
This was definitely a winnable game for the Sixers and it was a game fans would’ve liked to see a win, especially because it’s New York. But the Knicks out-rebounded the Sixers 49-36 and the difference was Andrea Bargnani down low. Even though the Sixers forced 18 Knicks turnovers and only committed 10 themselves, they still weren’t able to come through on the offensive end when the pressure was on. Also, for like the 10th game in a row, free-throws killed the Sixers hopes tonight. The Knicks shot 82.8 percent from the line, while the Sixers only managed to connect on 62.5 percent of their foul shots. As we have seen in recent weeks, most noticeably in NCAA tournament games, free-throws are huge and are the difference in a lot of close games. Free-throws, free-throws, free-throws. Can’t stress that point enough and right now the Sixers need a lot of work at the charity stripe.
