The Knicks beat the Sixers 108-102 on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden and took a 2-0 lead in their second-round playoff series, a game that stayed tight until the final minutes. No team led by more than seven points in Game 2, but New York made the last run and left Philadelphia with a deeper hole.
The Sixers entered the fourth quarter with a one-point lead, then saw their offense stall almost immediately. Kelly Oubre Jr. hit a pair of free throws, Dominick Barlow blocked a corner 3, and Josh Hart answered with a tying 3-pointer before Jalen Brunson put the Knicks ahead with a mid-range jumper. Later, after the Sixers earned open looks on three straight possessions, Tyrese Maxey missed a corner 3, then turned the ball over and split his free throws after drawing a foul. Brunson followed with two free throws to push New York ahead by three possessions, and Mikal Bridges added another mid-range jumper as the Knicks closed the door.
Maxey finally ended a nearly six-minute scoring drought for Philadelphia with a late shot, but Paul George then missed an airball that sealed the Sixers' fate. The loss came one night after Jared McCain made four 3-pointers off the bench for the defending champions on Tuesday, a reminder of the depth Philadelphia no longer has after the front office traded him away at the deadline.
That absence mattered because the Sixers were already coming off a taxing seven-game series against the Boston Celtics, and their tight rotation showed it in the fourth quarter. Joel Embiid's absence was not enough to hold up in Game 2, and the problems that have followed Philadelphia through the postseason now sit in plain view: little margin, heavy minutes and not enough answers when the game turns late.
The Knicks do not need style points now. They have control of the series, Philadelphia is chasing, and the next game will test whether the Sixers can recover enough legs and enough shot-making to make this a fight again.
