The New York Knicks have a pivotal Game 6 tonight against the Philadelphia 76ers, as they will look to close out this first-round series on the road. Currently up 3-2 in the series, they were only 28 seconds away from clinching the series in Game 5, before 76ers star Tyrese Maxey stole the show.
Tyrese Maxey stole a win for the 76ers in Game 5
Maxey scored 46 points in Philadelphia’s overtime win, but the highlight of his performance was his heroics late in the fourth quarter. He scored a four-point play and then drilled a three-pointer from the center court logo the next possession to send the game to overtime.
Philadelphia’s comeback was just the fifth instance in the last 25 years where a team has come back from a deficit of at least five points in the final 30 seconds of a playoff game and won, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.
After a crushing loss such as that, the only thing New York can do is regroup and focus on winning the series tonight.
Maxey has been unstoppable this series
Maxey has been killing the Knicks all series, as he is averaging 32.4 points and 7.2 assists on 50% shooting from the field and 43% from outside the arc. If the Knicks would like to close out the series tonight at Wells Fargo Center, silencing Maxey will be the key.
He has given most of the Knicks’ players trouble when looking at it from a matchups standpoint. The guys that have seen the most time guarding the electric point guard are Miles McBride and Josh Hart, with OG Anunoby seeing some time on both Maxey and Joel Embiid.
While there have been stretches where the Knicks have been able to put the 76ers in a prolonged scoring drought (i.e. the fourth quarter of Game 4), the overall issue remains to be containing Maxey. His ability to knock down long threes as well as finish inside makes him a very tough assignment for anybody.
The Knicks need to send more pressure at Maxey
To try to thwart Maxey tonight, the Knicks could throw multiple bodies at him. Embiid is playing with a myriad of injuries, most notably a knee injury as well as a mild case of Bell’s Palsy, making him slightly limited on both ends of the floor.
Mitchell Robinson and OG Anunoby have both done a strong job guarding Embiid one-on-one throughout the series, so Maxey could start to see more double teams on the perimeter in an attempt to slow him down offensively, as he has arguably been Philadelphia’s best player this series.
What will be very important is how they will go after Maxey in the minutes that Embiid is not on the floor. When Embiid sits, the 76ers tend to struggle, so winning those minutes is essential. The way they can guarantee that is if they send their best defenders after Maxey in those situations so that he can’t allow Philadelphia to stay in the game during the non-Embiid minutes.
If the Knicks are able to prevent Maxey from having another takeover reminiscent of Reggie Miller, then they could be in a strong position to win tonight’s game and move on to the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
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