here are no additional points awarded for style in the NBA standings, but the Knicks truly attempted to win this one in as ugly fashion as imaginable.
With both teams missing multiple key players, the Knicks couldn’t fully overcome their lowest-scoring first half in more than nine years — and a late shoving match couldn’t spark them to a comeback victory — as they dropped a pivotal game for playoff positioning at home, 79-73, to the 76ers with another head-to-head matchup looming Tuesday at the Garden.
“Like s–t,” Josh Hart said succinctly when asked to assess the Knicks’ performance.
Indeed, one game after holding the Magic to 74 points — the lowest total allowed by the Knicks since 2012 — they posted their lowest offensive output since April 2018 and the lowest by any team in the NBA this season.
“It was a physical, hard-fought game. We came up short. Our turnovers probably were the difference in the game,” Tom Thibodeau said of his team’s season-high-tying 21 giveaways. “Their ball pressure had a lot to do with it. So we have to do a better job with that.
“We had a chance at the end, but we had a couple of turnovers that hurt us there. That’s the way it goes sometimes.”
Jalen Brunson (19 points) and Donte DiVincenzo (15) combined on a 12-for-39 shooting night for the Knicks, who finished the game 9-for-40 from 3-point range.
“I played like dogs–t. That’s it,” Brunson said.
Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 18 points and Buddy Hield added 16 for the Sixers. They also came to town hobbled, missing reigning league MVP Joel Embiid and first-time All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey. They had dropped 15 of their previous 21 games to slip into the No. 7 play-in position in the Eastern Conference, but they are now one game behind the fourth-place Knicks pending Tuesday’s rematch at MSG.
“They came into our house a couple weeks ago, and punched us in the mouth for 48 minutes, and we wanted to come out here and do the same,” Oubre said, referring to the Knicks’ 110-96 win in Philly on Feb. 22.
The Sixers scored only 15 points on 7-for-24 shooting (29.2 percent) with nine of 10 misses from long range in the opening quarter.
Unfortunately for the slow-starting Knicks, they also were held to 15 with a .333 field-goal percentage for an ugly tie game through one. It marked the fifth time in their past six games that the Knicks didn’t reach 20 points in the first quarter.
Brunson was fouled on his first made field goal for a traditional three-point play, and he sank a turnaround mid-range jumper to pull the Knicks within 33-29 with under three minutes remaining before halftime.
The sloppy Knicks finished the half with a dozen turnovers, and they were 5-for-22 from long distance.
DiVincenzo added a steal and dunk to ensure the Knicks at least would reach 30 through two quarters, as the Sixers nursed a 37-31 advantage into intermission.
“The turnovers were out of hand,” said Hart, who committed six in the game.
It marked the Knicks’ lowest-scoring first half since January of 2015, when their starting lineup featured Cole Aldrich and Cleanthony Early.
Still, DiVincenzo’s 3-ball from the corner made it a one-point game almost midway through the third, and he evened matters at 47-all one minute later with a reverse layup off a feed from Brunson.
But Hield buried two buckets from long range in a 14-5 response by the Sixers, who rebuilt their lead to 63-56 entering the final quarter.
The Knicks (37-27) trailed by nine with a shade under six minutes remaining, and they still were down 70-63 when DiVincenzo was fouled by Oubre along the baseline with 4:04 to go.
DiVincenzo then wrapped his arms around the Sixers’ guard and tackled him to the floor out of bounds. DiVincenzo and Isaiah Hartenstein were assessed technical fouls from the ensuing skirmish, with Paul Reed ‘T’-ed up for the Sixers.
“I have no comment,” DiVincenzo said.
Tobias Harris missed the lone technical free throw awarded, but Reed knocked down a 3-pointer to expand the Knicks’ hole to 10.
“Just one of those nights, but we had a chance to win,” Brunson said. “We just didn’t make enough plays in the end. A lot of turnovers.
“I gotta be better as a player, as a leader, to make sure we’re all ready to go, and we weren’t tonight.”
