Julius Randle’s 24 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists led the New York Knicks to a 108-97 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers during the Sunday night NBA slate. The Knicks responded well when coming off a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
“It was great,” Randle said. “I think the biggest difference between last night and tonight, where I thought we could have won, was tonight it was our defense.”
The 76ers were led by Joel Embiid, who scored 31 points using 18 of 19 shooting from the free throw line. He also hauled in 14 rebounds.
“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.”
At halftime, Philadelphia led 53-51 after leading by 21 points in the first quarter. A 3-pointer by Randle started the second half with New York leading 54-53. As the fourth quarter began, Philadelphia led 79-76.
NBA SCORES & NEWS: Julius Randle, New York Knicks & Philadelphia 76ers Updates
Tyrese Maxey started things off in the final period with an and-1 finish, but the Knicks scored the following 10 points to fuel a 15-2 run on Fournier’s 3-pointer. This chain of events created a 91-84 lead and they never trailed for the remainder of the game.
“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.”
Randle’s floater with 2:18 left gave the Sixers an edge of three points. From that point on, Philadelphia wasn’t able to get any closer than eight points.
“It was a great team win all-around,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “It was great. We digged in the fourth quarter.”
NBA SCORES & NEWS: Julius Randle, New York Knicks & Philadelphia 76ers Updates
In addition to McBride’s 14 points, Hartenstein’s 14 rebounds tied a season high. As far as the 76ers are concerned, Tobias Harris and De’Anthony Melton scored 14 points each for the 76ers. Harden scored 12 points and had 12 assists.
“They played harder,” Rivers added. “They got everything. They were the more physical team. They were tougher.”
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