The Knicks figured out last spring that trapping Tyrese Maxey was a pretty good way to send the Sixers home. Five months later, they tried it again.. except now Philadelphia has LeBron James and Jaylen Brown. Good luck with that.
Late in the fourth, New York sent two defenders at Maxey. He found Joel Embiid, LeBron and Brown had defenders glued to them in the corners, and VJ Edgecombe got an easy lane to the rim. Who the hell are you supposed to leave open on this team?
Maxey still scored 28, but Philly didn’t need some ridiculous 45-point carry job. Embiid shot 4-for-15 and still made a difference with THREE blocks. The Sixers held the Knicks to 18 points in the third quarter and won 106-100.. on the night New York raised its championship banner.
One game doesn’t answer the Embiid health question, and these guys are still learning how to play together. But a lot of the offseason conversation was about whether Philly had TOO MANY guys who needed the ball. Opening night made it look like that might be everybody else’s problem.
