The battle between the worst two teams in the Eastern Conference was put on display tonight in south Philadelphia, as the 6-36 New York Knicks made the trip to Wells Fargo Center to play the 8-33 Sixers. After defeating Philadelphia on November 22nd by a score of 91-83, the Sixers were looking for revenge tonight versus the Knicks, who came to town after getting a rare win Monday night at home versus New Orleans. While on the other hand, the Sixers came into the matchup as losers of two consecutive games but ironically their last win came versus New Orleans last week as well. With both teams playing horrendous basketball, the tank fest between the Sixers and Knicks was sure to be one for the ages.
Throughout the first quarter of the Atlantic division bottom dwellers affair, I’m sure you can guess how both teams came out, right? Exactly! Neither team came out ready to play basketball so the game became more and more boring as every second ticked off the clock in the first quarter. Both teams shot the ball poorly and sloppy play controlled the game on both sides. Neither team could find any sort of rhythm as the quarter gradually came to a close with the score knotted at 18 apiece.
The second quarter didn’t provide viewers with much better play and with Nerlens Noel out tonight due to sickness, the Sixers had no ability at all to get the ball deep into the paint. Furkan Aldemir received his first career NBA start and was unable to even get off a shot until the second quarter, leading Michael Carter-Williams to fall into his “do it yourself” mode, which is almost never a good thing. Tonight was no different than any other night MCW attempts to take control of the entire game. Don’t let his finishing stats fool you because he shot the ball way too much in my opinion, especially in the first half. The Sixers were outscored 31-24 in the second quarter giving the Knicks a 49-42 advantage heading into halftime, but that wasn’t the main story of the half. Michael Carter-Williams and his shot selection was unfortunately the main story for the Sixers. He did accumulate 14 points in the first half but he only made 6/17 shots. 17 shots is WAY too many. Actually, no other Sixers player took more than 6 shots throughout the first half. Tall about a ballhog. And it wasn’t like nobody else was open either. He had multiple player’s wide open for three-point opportunities off the drive and kick that were just passed up. I thought the first half was a missed opportunity for Carter-Williams to show his teammates that he’s calming down. But then again, evidently he hasn’t learned yet.
Knicks star Carmelo Anthony nailed two straight three-point attempts to begin the third quarter of play and stretch the Knicks lead to 13 points at 55-42, forcing Sixers Coach Brett Brown to spend a quick timeout to begin the half. The Knicks lead continued to float around ten to twelve points for the majority of the third quarter until Sixers rookie K.J. McDaniel’s drilled a three ball to cut the New York lead to 8, giving the Sixers hope. The Knicks didn’t give in to the big three by McDaniel’s as they fought back and extended their lead back up to 12 by the end of the third quarter, 74-62. Signs of an improved Carter-Williams emerged in the third quarter as he began to get his teammates involved more often, while only shooting three attempts. His better play began to ignite the team for a fourth quarter push.
And it was one impressive fourth quarter push. The Sixers finally engaged in some team play and found some rhythm in the fourth quarter. The slowly but steadily crept their way back into the game throughout the majority of the quarter and with 1:30 to play Robert Covington hit a big-time three-pointer to cut the Knicks lead to just four. After some help on the defensive end from rookie Jerami Grant aggressively swatting away shot opportunities, the Sixers had their chances on the offensive end but were unable to come through. The next offensive possession from the Knicks featured St. Joe’s product, Langston Galloway, rattling in a three-point attempt that would eventually put the dagger in the Sixers. And with that, the Knicks defeated the Sixers 98-91.
Michael Carter-Williams’ final stat line on the night: 27 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, and 5 steals. I know I may sound a little too harsh concerning Michael Carter-Williams’ play tonight but he was 10/26 from the field, a season high for his shots attempted. 26 shots is way too many and if you’re going to take that many shots, you better hit 15 of them. He has to settle down and let points come to him, but besides the amount of shots he took, it was an impressive night for MCW.
As for the rest of the team, Brett Brown can take some key positives away from this game. Henry Sims recorded a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Robert Covington had another solid night as he finished with 17 points on 5/11 from the field and 3/8, to go along with 4 assists, as well as 3 rebounds. The biggest surprise of the night came from rookie second round pick Jerami Grant, who I briefly mentioned earlier. Grant turned away 8 Knicks shots tonight and he is only one of just eight players in the last 20 years to block 8 shots in less than 25 minutes of game time. If he can produce on the defensive side of the ball like this in the future, he will surely be seeing more and more of the floor to contribute to the Sixers rebuilding process. Fans would’ve loved to see the Sixers pull this one out tonight but it wasn’t meant to be. The Knicks were clearly a winnable game on the Sixers schedule but things didn’t go as planned. New York improves to 7-36, while the Sixers fall to 8-34.
Next up: vs Orlando, Friday 7:30pm tip.
