All of a sudden, the Knicks are in a rut. All of a sudden, a potential Eastern Conference roadblock might have emerged as a matchup problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They were flat and out of sorts for the second straight night, falling to the 76ers 130-119 Saturday at Madison Square Garden. Having dropped both legs of this back-to-back \u2014 just their third and fourth losses at home all season \u2014 the Knicks are stuck in their first three-game skid since the end of October. That was the only other time they had lost consecutive games during this campaign.<\/p>\n
After winning 11 of 12 games, including their NBA Cup triumph, the Knicks are 4-5 in their past nine games and 5-5 since winning the Cup. Two of those losses came at MSG to the 76ers, who certainly look capable of making some noise in the East.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in an area that we\u2019re not used to, where you\u2019ve hit a little bit of adversity,\u201d coach Mike Brown said. \u201cI\u2019ve never been part of a team that has not gone through adversity throughout the course of the year, whether we won it at the end of the season or we were in the finals or we had a halfway decent season. Every team is gonna hit it.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow for us, it\u2019s about: How do we respond? How do we come out of it? This is a great opportunity for us to see what we\u2019re made of while we\u2019re going through this stretch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tyrese Maxey goes up for a layup as Miles McBride defends during the Knicks\u2019 loss to the 76ers on Jan. 3, 2025 at Madison Square Garden. Jason Szenes \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
The young and explosive 76ers backcourt of emerging star Tyrese Maxey and rookie VJ Edgecombe, the No. 3 pick in the draft, has given the Knicks fits. On Saturday, Maxey recorded 36 points while Edgecombe added 26. The Knicks had no answers for either of them, allowing them to penetrate into the lane at will and find quality looks from deep.<\/p>\n
Teams with quick and athletic guards are the ones that have most bothered the Knicks this season. The 76ers have two of the best.<\/p>\n
When the Knicks cut their deficit to nine points a few minutes into the fourth quarter, Edgecombe blocked Mikal Bridges\u2019 3-pointer and subsequently went coast-to-coast, beating the Knicks down the floor for a wide-open dunk. When the Knicks got back within 12 with 4:26 left, Maxey hit a stepback 3. When the Knicks were within 10 with just over a minute left, Edgecombe stole an inbounds pass, and after a timeout, got to the rim for an open layup. They were relentless.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust the effort,\u201d Bridges said. \u201cThe initial effort might be there, but just making plays after \u2014 the second effort is not there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joel Embiid drives on OG Anunoby during the Knicks\u2019 loss to the 76ers. Jason Szenes \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
The Knicks should have gotten a boost with their top two big men in Karl-Anthony Towns (illness) and Mitchell Robinson (load management) returning to action. But neither made much of an impact. Towns had just two first-half points and finished with 23, many of which came late. He spent most of the night complaining to the referees about a lack of a whistle \u2014 for which he earned a technical in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
Jalen Brunson scored a team-high 31 points, but his co-stars played more like role players.<\/p>\n
Josh Hart\u2019s continued absence is felt. The lack of his do-it-all impact and energizer ability is glaring.<\/p>\n
Joel Embiid played at the Garden for the first time since becoming a Knicks villain during the 2024 playoffs. This time, though, he returned less of an MVP-caliber superstar and more on the same level as Maxey and Edgecombe. But, healthy again, he added 26 points and 10 rebounds, getting the better of Towns and Robinson.<\/p>\n
Jalen Brunson drives on Joel Embiid during the Knicks\u2019 loss to the 76ers. Jason Szenes \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
Karl-Anthony Towns argues a call during the Knicks\u2019 loss to the 76ers. Jason Szenes \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
\u201cSticking together,\u201d Brunson said of how the Knicks can fight out of their slump. \u201cNot pointing fingers, not feeling sorry for ourselves or trying to find a quick solution instead of working through it for the long term. Just have each other\u2019s backs, I think that\u2019s most important.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 76ers used a 9-0 run in the second quarter to separate, and by the third quarter, built a 19-point lead. The Knicks made it interesting in the fourth quarter but never seriously threatened a comeback, never getting closer than seven points.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The Knicks next travel to Detroit to face the first-place \u2014 though now injury-riddled without Jalen Duren and Tobias Harris \u2013 Pistons for their first matchup of the year. It won\u2019t matter who is out for the Pistons, though, if the Knicks keep playing like this.<\/p>\n
After their previous three-game losing streak, the Knicks rattled off five straight wins. This will be another test of their mettle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope history repeats itself,\u201d Towns said. \u201cFor history to repeat itself, we gotta lock in and be ready for the next game. It\u2019s not gonna get any easier for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All of a sudden, the Knicks are in a rut. All of a sudden, a potential Eastern Conference…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4777,16217,1555,21,9,11,1104,10,9126,319,16514],"class_list":{"0":"post-88606","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-jalen-brunson","9":"tag-joel-embiid","10":"tag-karl-anthony-towns","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-knicks","15":"tag-new-york-news","16":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-tyrese-maxey"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}