April 25, 2024
Bill Streicher/for PhillyVoice
Joel Embiid delivers the best playoff performance of his career in Game 3 against the Knicks.
Desperate to avoid an 0-3 series deficit that no NBA team has ever overcome in a seven-game series, Thursday night the Sixers returned home for a crucial Game 3 matchup against the New York Knicks. There are lots of stories within a series, but the headliner in any one involving the Sixers will be Joel Embiid. In a must-win Game 3, the reigning NBA MVP came through in the most significant of ways, dropping 50 points. Because of his dominance, the Sixers are alive and well after taking this one 125-114. Here is what stood out from Thursday night's battle:
For the entirety of what one may call the Embiid Era, the Sixers have routinely enjoyed an elite home-court advantage: both their win-loss records at home and the general feelings within the Wells Fargo Center have constantly affirmed that Philadelphia crowds are some of the best in basketball.
After dealing with two games of a raucous New York City crowd at Madison Square Garden, the Sixers likely expected to fall back on the intense advantage they have come to known. There were more Sixers fans than Knicks fans in the building, but you could barely tell from the opening minutes of the game.
For the first time in Embiid's career, he actually drew boos for drawing a foul in Philadelphia. As he went to the free throw line, "MVP" chants were drowned out by boos. As someone who has attended every home Sixers game that has been played for several years, this was unlike anything I have ever witnessed in the arena. It almost felt like a high school game.
30 minutes after the listed start time of this game, not even six minutes of game time had passed. Tip-off came 13 minutes after that time, yes, but there were also three different official reviews within the first six minutes of the game. All three of them stemmed from infractions committed by the Sixers: first, Kyle Lowry was called for a Flagrant 1 Foul after he appeared to hit Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo in the face. Then Embiid was whistled for an offensive foul that sent Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein to the ground.
A few minutes later, Embiid fell to the floor while defending New York's other center, Mitchell Robinson. Embiid, who already had logged that first offensive foul, grabbed Robinson's leg from the ground to prevent the Knicks' center from laying the ball in. It was a silly mistake by Embiid -- forgetting that grabbing any player's leg has been frowned upon in the NBA for years, he was handing the Knicks a second personal foul fewer than eight minutes into the game.
It did not even take one minute of reviewing for the officials to hand Embiid a Flagrant 1 Foul of his own. It could have been even worse -- Robinson missed his two free throws, in a break for Embiid and the Sixers. Embiid is 30 years old and was drafted nearly a decade ago -- this kind of unforced mental mistake is just not acceptable in a game like this.
Payne, who served admirably as a spark plug scorer in a bench role for much of the remainder of the regular season after being acquired by the Sixers in February, has been out of the rotation since the start of the postseason. He has made two extremely brief cameos and largely maximized those brief spurts.
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse reaffirmed his trust in Payne before Game 2 over the weekend, calling the guard "a creator of offense." Nurse admitted that Payne was "pissed" about his lack of playing time. Payne made a surprise appearance to open the second quarter, and he most certainly managed to channel that anger in the right way.
On his first shot of the game, Payne nailed a triple. On the very next Sixers possession, he hit another one. Payne flipped the oddly-diverse crowd into a Sixers-centric one with his energy. In a stint that listed eight minutes and eight seconds of play, Payne posted eight points, dished out an assist to Embiid for a mid-range jumper and even blocked a shot. The Sixers outscored the Knicks by two points during that period.
It is not easy to go into a game having no idea if you will have a role in it, let alone not knowing what your role would look like if you do play. Payne was not expected to factor into the team's playoff rotation when he arrived in Philadelphia, but he keeps on surpassing expectations with ease, and in doing so providing his team with a unique and tangible jolt of energy.
Finally -- finally -- Embiid looked like something resembling his best self on the offensive end of the floor in the second quarter of this one. He forced each of New York's two rotations bigs, Hartenstein and Robinson, into foul trouble, forcing Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau to insert Precious Achiuwa at center to end the first half.
Achiuwa actually gave the Knicks a strong three minutes and change of play, getting a one-on-one stop against Embiid and blocking a Tyrese Maxey floater.
Embiid finished the quarter with 11 points, entering intermission with 17 total. Embiid hit a flurry of jumpers over Robinson, who after being listed as questionable pregame was noticeably limping around for much of the second quarter, ultimately resulting in an exit which probably did not happen as soon as it should have.
For the first time since the opening minutes of Game 1 of this series, the Sixers' crown jewel and offensive centerpiece actually looked like the player who was an injury away from being the NBA's scoring champion in three straight seasons. His supporting cast remained imperfect in the first 24 minutes of the game, but he looked the best he had since the postseason began by the end of the second quarter.
Maxey made just two of his seven field goal attempts in the first half. It was frustrating for the Sixers that despite Embiid finally looking dominant offensively, they trailed at intermission thanks in large part due to offensive struggles from his supporting cast.
In the third quarter, Maxey really heated up, quickly stunning the Knicks with a barrage of tough jumpers, including a nasty step-back triple of Hartenstein. It was a nice sign for the Sixers to have both cogs of their All-Star duo going at the same time. But then things escalated.
Embiid got even hotter than he had been before, going on to post 18 points on his in the third quarter -- including knocking down four triples. This was the most important moment of Embiid's career in which he has come through and looked exactly as good as the world has long known he can be. Of course, if the Sixers want to have any chance of maximizing their potential, he will need to be this good in several more crucial situations. But this is a major step in the right direction.
The Sixers had a few strong quarters in New York City during the first two games of this series, but none as strong as their 43-27 outburst in the third quarter on Thursday night. They truly fired on all cylinders: Embiid took over the game, Maxey was brilliant by his side and a few role players -- namely Payne, Lowry and Kelly Oubre Jr. -- made some important plays when they had to.
The Sixers' epic third quarter trouncing of New York put them in a position where all they had to do in the final 12 minutes was not collapse in disastrous fashion (much easier said than done, especially when considering the subject is a Sixers team in a playoff game). The Sixers delivered, and their hopes of advancing past the first round of the NBA Playoffs are alive and well. They have a chance to even the series 2-2 when these teams return to the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday, and all of a sudden the outrage stemming from Game 2's incomprehensible loss feels a bit more like something a team can stomach and move past.
The Sixers are far away from getting the job done. Not only do they need to win three out of their next four games against the Knicks, but they would need to notch a dozen more wins after that to truly accomplish their goal. But on Thursday, they displayed their formula for the entire world to see: Embiid was at the peak of his powers, dominating the Knicks for nearly the entirety of the game while Maxey played off him beautifully. The Sixers' array of versatile role players stepped up and Nurse appeared to push all of the right buttons.
We have a series on our hands. One down, 15 to go.
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