By Tommy Matthews
If Sixers GM Daryl Morey wasn’t burning up the wires before last night’s loss to the Knicks, he is this morning, hoping to make a trade before Thursday’s deadline and improve his team for the stretch run and playoffs.
Especially for the bench, which only scored 14 points after getting 67 the other night!
Julius Randle had 24 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, Jalen Brunson scored 21 points and the New York Knicks overcame an early 21-point deficit to beat the Sixers 108-97.
Joel Embiid had 31 points for the 76ers, going 18 of 19 from the free throw line, and grabbed 14 rebounds.
Philadelphia had won nine of its previous 10 games. The 76ers also blew a 21-point lead in a 119-109 loss to Orlando on Monday.
“It’s never easy,” Embiid said. “A 20-point lead in the NBA, that’s nothing. Any team can come back and that’s what they did tonight.”
The Sixers went ahead by 21 points in the first quarter, but the Knicks continued to chip away and cut it to 53-51 at halftime.
Randle’s 3-pointer to start the second half put New York ahead 54-53, its first lead since 2-0.
Philadelphia went back up by eight and led 79-76 heading into the fourth quarter.
Tyrese Maxey opened the final quarter with a three-point play, but the Knicks scored the next 10 points and capped a 15-2 run on Fournier’s 3-pointer, giving them a 91-84 lead.
“I thought our second unit came in and struggled,” 76ers coach Doc Rivers said.
“This is the second time that has happened. The same thing happened in Orlando. Both times, we were scoring too easy. The second group comes in and thinks this is an offensive game and they didn’t see the reason the first group got the lead was because of defense.”
