Enes Kanter put in his best game of the season, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Joel Embiid-led Sixers. The Knicks poor shooting performance was critical in today’s loss.
- New York Knicks: 98 (17-16)
- Philadelphia 76ers: 105 (15-18)
- NBA, Final, Box Score
- Madison Square Garden, NY
New York Knicks center Enes Kanter was everywhere today. He finished the game with 31 points and 22 rebounds. 11 of those points would come on the offensive end of the floor. Unfortunately, the monster effort on the interior would not be enough to take out Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers.
Despite this being a back-and-forth affair, Embiid’s 25 points and 15 rebounds proved to be too much for the Knicks to overcome. JJ Reddick had an excellent game as well, chipping in with 24 points on only 10 field goals.
The Knicks bench has been so good at home of late, but today they were held in check by the Sixers. The bench only scored 30 points on 11-for-34 from the floor. Thursday night against the Celtics, the Knicks were led by a tremendous 4th quarter effort from the second unit. Today? Not so much
The Knicks only hit four three-pointers today and couldn’t seem to get anything to fall from the free throw line. On the other hand, the Sixers converted on 83 percent of their chances from the charity stripe. The Sixers hit 25 free throws compared to the 18 that the Knicks hit. Coincidentally, the Knicks lost by 7 points.
#Knicks ball movement ends in a wide open Kanter lay in!
The NYK big man is up to 21 PTS, 18 REB on @ESPNNBA.#NBAXmas pic.twitter.com/IIm5lgN1uG
— NBA (@NBA) December 25, 2017
Unfortunately, this Knicks team hasn’t been able to really maintain a consistent hot streak this season. They are really struggling down the stretch of games to close games out. We saw it Friday against the Pistons and again at home against the Sixers.
Not having Tim Hardaway Jr. late in games is definitely a huge factor. His ability to stretch the defense would really benefit Kristaps Porzingis and help open up the middle of the floor. This is a young team so expect them to improve their late-game execution, but for the time being, these are tough games to watch.
