Knicks unable to hold back 76ers, fall below .500
The Knicks' Julius Randle, left, battles for the ball against the 76ers' Danny Green, Ben Simmons and Dwight Howard during the first half of an NBA game Tuesday in Philadelphia. Credit: AP/Matt Slocum
PHILADELPHIA — Late in the third quarter Tuesday night Julius Randle drove the left side of the lane, his shot was blocked out of bounds amid a crowd of Philadelphia 76ers defenders. As the teams retreated to a timeout, Randle pleaded — quietly, kindly — with referee Ken Mauer.
It was a stark contrast with the last image of Randle from a night earlier, angrily raging at the crew chief in Brooklyn, Scott Foster, knocking over a chair on his way to the locker room. Maybe he’d learned a lesson or maybe he was just exhausted, too tired to add any effort to his workload.
For the second straight night of a back-to-back set Randle was tasked with trying to drag the Knicks to the finish line against one of the Eastern Conference’s elite squads. And for the second straight night he fought with little rest, piled up numbers and it just wasn’t enough as the Knicks fell, 99-96, to the 76ers at Wells Fargo Arena.
Like a night earlier the Knicks found themselves down three in the final seconds. But this time it didn’t fall to the referees to decide it. Immanuel Quickley missed badly on a long three and after Randle grabbed the rebound and fired it out to Reggie Bullock, Bullock’s attempt — which missed anyway — was negated as his foot was out of bounds with 8.4 seconds left.
After a furious comeback fell short in Brooklyn Monday the Knicks could have understandably been on fumes in this challenge. But for much of the night they held the lead, fighting off each Philadelphia rally until midway through the fourth quarter. As strong as the effort was against the 76ers who were without Joel Embiid, the Knicks fell below .500 with the loss, dropping to 20-21.
"Taking a look at this game and the Brooklyn game, there’s a lot of good things to take from it," Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. "Obviously we fell short in the end. It shows us the work necessary to get over the hump."
With 6:41 remaining Dwight Howard rejected a Randle drive, sending the ball out of bounds and the force putting Randle on his back. The 76ers then swiped the inbounds pass and Ben Simmons scored on a goaltending call against Nerlens Noel to cut the Knicks lead to two. Seth Curry then connected on a three-pointer with 5:01 to play, finally pushing the 76ers in front for the first time since the opening minute of the second quarter when they held a 22-21 advantage.
The lead stretched to three and the Knicks managed to tie it again on a pair of Alec Burks free throws with 3:18 remaining. Long Island's Tobias Harris, who led Philadelphia with 30 points, then drove through the defense to push Philadelphia in front again. After a Knicks miss, Harris connected again in the lane with 1:49 to play, giving the 76ers a 96-92 lead.
Burks lost the ball in traffic after a timeout, but after a Harris miss, RJ Barrett dunked along the baseline to close the gap to two again. The 76ers then came up empty three times from point blank range with Noel getting a piece of two of them, giving the Knicks the ball back with 44 seconds remaining. Randle got inside, but passed off to Barrett, who missed on a short jumper and the Knicks fouled with 16.4 seconds left. Another foul by Randle sent Furkan Korkmaz to the line with 15.1 seconds left. He missed the first but made the second, putting the Knicks down three — just as they were a night earlier.
Randle played 41 minutes after 44 against the Nets, recovering nicely from the frustration of a night earlier with 19 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists.
"Once I got to the game I’m focused on this game," Randle said. "Once that game was over it’s over."
"Emotions are a big part of the game," Thibodeau said. "So you never want to take that away from a player. You want everyone to be themselves. But you don’t want it to cross the line where it can cost the team.
"I thought it was a reaction to a tough call with a game on the line. I think that’s normal. And then he calmed down right after the game. I thought he played terrific, fought really hard. Put us in position to tie it up, even win it, but we fell short."
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
