The Sixers Are Back
The big guy set a personal-best playoff record with 50 points in a huge Sixers win over the Knicks last night. Plus, more Philly sports news.
1-2-3-4-5, Sixers! Joel Embiid shoots a lay up past Miles McBride of the Knicks during Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round Playoffs last night. / Photograph by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images
The Sixers Are Back
No Victor today, as he takes Fridays off, but I did want to mention the Sixers’ Game 3 playoff match against the Knicks. First off, we learned that Kelly Oubre Jr. ran a red light in Center City in the wee hours after Tuesday’s Game 2 loss in NYC and crashed his purple Lamborghini. He started anyway, along with the aforementioned Embiid, Tobias Harris, Kyle Lowry and Tyrese Maxey. Joel picked up an early second foul — a flagrant — and Philly crossed its fingers, praying he’d keep his temper in check.
Joel Embiid complains to ref then flagrant fouls Mitchell Robinson. Donte has a word pic.twitter.com/GLv7S4eJ3t
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) April 26, 2024
At least Mitchell Robinson blew both the foul shots. He then wound up on his ass on the court. Tempers were hot, and the game was physical. Embiid sat down to cool off for the rest of the first quarter, which ended with the Knicks up 29-27.
Cam Payne gave us back the lead early in the second with a trey, and in a nice twist of fate, Isaiah Hartenstein, whom I’ve come to hate, notched his third foul just three minutes in, on Joel. Unfortunately, Joel soon picked up his third, too. And we’d apparently forgotten that one has to rebound.
At the half: 58-55 Knicks. Joel and Jalen Brunson each had 17 points; Tyrese and OG Anunoby were in second place with 11 apiece. (Speaking of Maxey, here’s a lovely story on Andscape.com about him and his grandma.) There sure were a lot of Knicks fans in our house.
Charles Barkley is "disgusted" at "all those Knicks fans there" pic.twitter.com/CFQHz05D8x
— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) April 26, 2024
The third quarter was back-and-forth, back-and-forth until Tyrese did that thing where he warms up late and sparked a 12-0 Sixers run halfway through. Robinson left the court for the rest of the game with an ankle sprain. What a pity. Embiid nailed three straight threes right in Hartenstein’s face. We were up 98-85 at the start of the fourth after a 43-point third quarter.
Hartenstein racked up his fifth foul with 7:33 to go — on Joel, natch. And Joel was feelin’ it. But toward the end, Anunoby hit a pair of threes to bring the Knicks within eight, and it was nervous time, even though Joel was up to 45 points. In the final minutes, Kyle Lowry came through big-time, and Brunson was mightily frustrated. Again, what a pity. (Sports don’t bring out the best in me.)
The usual late-game foul fest, a 50-point total for Joel, and that’s the 125-114 win. Not bad for a guy who’s just been reported to have Bell’s palsy.
Centers with 50+ points in an NBA playoff game:
Wilt Chamberlain 56, 1962
Wilt Chamberlain 53, 1960
Nikola Jokic 53, 2023
Wilt Chamberlain 50, 1964
Wilt Chamberlain 50, 1960
Joel Embiid 50 tonight— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) April 26, 2024
See you on Sunday, on our court, 1 p.m. start.
How’d the Phils Do?
They kept up their series of swift starts in Thursday’s wrap-up of their series with the Reds, getting four runs in the third on a Nick Castellanos single, a Bryson Stott triple (!), a Kyle Schwarber sac fly, a Trea Turner double and a Bryce Harper homer. Phew!
https://twitter.com/MLBONFOX/status/1783552893087354885
Oh, Alec Bohm doubled in the midst of all that, too. With Zack Wheeler on the mound for us, fans could hope there wouldn’t be another bullpen breakdown. He loaded the bases in the bottom of the third but worked out of the jam. Brandon Marsh singled, stole second (!!), and scored another in the sixth.
Orion Kerkering came in for Wheeler to close out the seventh, and Jeff Hoffman came in for him in the eighth and finished things up in the 5-0 win. They’ll play an away game vs. the Padres tonight, starting at 9:40.
What About the Eagles?
It’s nights like these where you think “Huh, maybe I should add a second TV to my living room.” As the Sixers rolled, the Eagles waited and waited for their spot at the NFL Draft, eventually picking Toledo cornerback Quinyon Mitchell. There’s a lot to like here, but one thing especially: he didn’t commit a single penalty last season and had just one pass interference call over the past two years, according to The Athletic.
For a defense that gave up the fourth-most penalty yards in the NFL last season — plus the second-most passing yards — Mitchell can’t suit up fast enough.
