Knicks fall short to Sixers after a couple of comebacks

It was one of those losses that make this rebuilding season fun to watch. The Knicks trailed by as many as 24 points shortly before halftime and cut the lead to just one point at the end of the third.

Then they trailed by 12 and came again close to just a couple. In the final minute the Sixers pushed one last time the gas pedal and with 20 seconds remaining on the clock the lead was 106-98.

The Knicks put up a final fight that almost sent the game into overtime had Mudiay made a final 25 foot jumper that hit the rim.

Boxscore

Even coach Fizdale was impressed with how things went.

“I’m really proud of them. They didn’t cave. We gave ourselves a chance. A lot of good stuff came out of this game.”

– David Fizdale

The Knicks, who played without both Tim Hardaway Jr. and Enes Kanter, relied on their younger players to face the slickness of Ben Simmons and the strength of Joel Embiid; they did not disappoint.

Kevin Knox scored a career-high 31 points shooting 12-23 from the field and grabbed 7 rebounds to become the sixth youngest player to score 30 points or more in NBA history. The list has names like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Kevin Durant among the players who did it at an earlier age.

Luke Kornett scored 23 points off the bench, matching his career-high, while Emmanuel Mudiay dropped 19 buckets as the starting PG.

The Sixers were led by Embiid’s 26 points. Simmons however was just 1 assist away from a triple double after scoring 20, collecting 22 boards and dishing 9 dimes.