Tyrese Maxey saves 76ers from elimination, defeats Knicks in Game 5

NBA

Maxey scored seven points in the final 25 seconds of regulation to help send the game to overtime.

By BRIAN MAHONEY, Associated Press

May 1, 2024 | 8:32 a.m.

NEW YORK (AP) — Tyrese Maxey made his Madison Square Garden memory a season-saving comeback with a rapid-fire burst that evoked memories of Reggie Miller.

Not that he was thinking about his own legacy as those 3-point shots fell through the net.

“I was just thinking about finding a way to survive,” Maxey said.

The 76ers did it. Now they are thinking about moving forward.

Maxey saved Philadelphia from elimination with seven points in the final 25 seconds of regulation, finished with 46 and led the 76ers to a 112-106 overtime victory over the New York Knicks on Tuesday night in Game 5 of their first round series.

The Sixers trailed by six points with 28 seconds left before Maxey made a comeback that led team coach Kevin Johnson to tell him about Miller’s eight points in nine seconds for Indiana during a comeback out of nowhere at Madison Square Garden in 1995. .

When asked to describe the feeling, Maxey opted for “obligatory.”

“Like, we had to do it. Our season is at stake,” he said.

The All-Star guard converted a four-point play with 25 seconds left to cut it to two, and after Josh Hart’s free throw, he rose 35 feet to tie it at 97 with 8.1 seconds left. to play in front of a stunned crowd that was expected to celebrate the Knicks’ second straight trip to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Joel Embiid finished with 19 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists for the Sixers, who will host Game 6 on Thursday night.

Jalen Brunson scored 40 points for the Knicks, who were mulling a possible second-round Game 1 at MSG on Saturday night. Instead, it could be Game 7 of this series, which seemed almost over.

“It was a tough way to lose because you win six, eight, and then we had some turnovers and we just have to be better,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Play harder with a lead, use good judgment. The fourth trimester is different, understand the difference. So we can do better and we will.

It was the second desperate rally to avoid what appeared to be certain defeat in what has been a tight series between the Atlantic Division rivals. The Knicks won Game 2 after trailing by five points with less than 30 seconds remaining.

Embiid, who was ill and missed shots because of a headache, did not score as usual after entering the game with an NBA-leading 35 points per game in the playoffs. But Maxey charged back, making seven 3-pointers while adding nine assists.

“I think given that our No. 1 option was struggling, for him to say, ‘All right, I’ve got to put this team on my back and go,’ I just kept encouraging him, trying to his chance, taking his shots, making plays,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said. “And he certainly did that, got into rhythm and made a bunch of them.”

Maxey had the most points by a Sixers player in a victory to avoid elimination, surpassing Hall of Famer Allen Iverson’s 44 in a Game 7 victory over Milwaukee in the final of the 2001 Eastern Conference.

Maxey’s final 3-pointer put the 76ers into overtime after Brunson scored the first five points. That sparked a 9-0 run that Embiid capped with a three-point play with 1:40 left for a 106-102 lead, and after Brunson’s 3 tied it at 106, Kelly Oubre Jr. made the decisive basket with 1:02 to go and Tobias Harris followed with two free throws.

Harris had 19 points and Oubre scored 14.

Hart had 18 points and OG Anunoby 17 for the Knicks, who won Game 4 in Philadelphia and didn’t appear to be going back. But the Sixers’ victory by six means the No. 7 seeds outscored the Knicks by two total points in the series.

Embiid was the target of loud and lengthy boos before the game even started, with Knicks fans angry after his flagrant foul on Robinson in Game 3 in Philadelphia. They had plenty of opportunities to taunt him after Embiid also had nine turnovers in a sloppy performance.

But thanks to Maxey, Embiid could play in front of that MSG crowd one more time.

“It’s not hostile,” Embiid said of the taunts that were often profane. “I mean, I love New York. New York is one of my favorite cities in the world. I have (had) a place here for five years. I love New York. And then the fans, when you play a team, they always pick that guy and they seem to pick me, which is funny. I love it.”

Embiid walked slowly through the locker room a little more than an hour before the game, resting his head in his hand as he sat down briefly before going to warm up. He may have lacked energy, but Maxey, 23, winner of the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award, seems to have a limitless supply of it.

Robinson returned after missing Game 4 with a sprained left ankle, but the Knicks announced before the game that Bojan Bogdanovic would miss the remainder of the playoffs and undergo surgery on his left foot which he was injured in Game 4.

The Knicks, who thrived when Embiid was rested in the series, went on a 22-5 run with him out in the second quarter and went up by 10 points in the period. They led 70-69 going into the fourth.