‘Pride’ the core difference for Sixers in tight loss to Knicks originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Sixers comfortably cleared a bar that was lying at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
After trailing by as many as 50 points Monday night vs. the Bulls, their showing was miles more respectable Wednesday against the Knicks.
“Pride,” Tyrese Maxey said. “That’s it. The Knicks are pretty good, but guys stood in there and guarded, played defense and took matchups personally.”
Jalen Brunson’s late-game exploits ended up rescuing a New York team that squandered a 19-point lead. The third-seeded Knicks improved to 38-20 and the 12th-seeded Sixers fell to a symmetrical 20-38.
If the Sixers had snapped their losing streak — now at an NBA-high nine games — it would’ve been shocking. They’re a perpetually shorthanded team that hadn’t seemed to care at all Monday about the manner in which they lost.
Maxey listed off a string of positives that had not applied to the Chicago game.
“We played hard as hell,” he said. “We guarded the ball, played together, played fast, made shots, got to the paint, scored. That’s how you play basketball.
“And everybody competed. Nobody was scared. Nobody cared about what the score was. We played until the end and competed our behinds off.”
Indeed, this Sixers defeat wasn’t at all about atrocious effort. Always eager to capitalize on a defender’s minor missteps and excessive physicality, Brunson shot 15 for 16 at the foul line. Playing through a right finger sprain, Maxey was 12 for 32 from the field and 0 for 10 from three-point range.
He acknowledged in the visiting locker room at Madison Square Garden that his taped-up finger “hurts, but I’ll be fine.”
“Mostly just my shot and my ball handling,” Maxey said. “I can’t really pound the ball like I want to, but I’m not going to make any excuses.”
Kelly Oubre Jr.’s performance mitigated much of Maxey’s shooting struggles. He posted 27 points and went 9 for 14 from the floor. Paul George also scored his most in over a month, adding 25 points.
Both wings logged 42 minutes and propelled the Sixers’ comeback push.
“Those are the moments in the games that we’ve been playing where it’s just like we’re depleted, teams kind of stretch the lead out … and we didn’t do that tonight,” Oubre said. “We just kept fighting for 48 minutes, as we’ve been working on. … Everybody competed that stepped on the floor. We’ve just got to make more plays and be smarter down the stretch.”
George had been candid Monday about the Sixers looking nothing like a team poised for a massive breakthrough to championship contention. The Sixers’ season is trending toward hinging on how the NBA draft lottery balls bounce and whether they keep their top-six protected first-round pick.
Every loss is not the same, though.
“Whether you win or lose, you play the game the right way,” George said. “You play for your teammates. That’s where the fun and the joy comes from.
“Frustration creeps in when you don’t have that and it’s an individual game. There’s no connection throughout the team on the floor; that’s where the fun is killed. … At this point, we need to make strides to build winning habits. And if we play how we played tonight, the game is fun. We give ourselves a chance.”
Nick Nurse wasn’t fixated on the result either.
“I think we’re at a stage where we’re just trying to get ourselves to play a little better,” the Sixers’ head coach said. “We’ve just got to play better, and I think there were some signs of that.”
