Game 5 came down to the battle of the All-Star guards: Jalen Brunson vs. Tyrese Maxey.
It was familiar territory for Brunson with the Knicks looking to avoid a Game 6 on the road Thursday. The scene at Madison Square Garden was set and he had one goal: put the Knicks on his back.
But Maxey, the newly-crowned Most Improved Improved Player, willed his team into overtime after being down six with just 28.2 second remaining. After Josh Hart split a pair at the charity stripe, Maxey managed to get the ball back with his team down three in the final possession. Maxey then made it look easy by running up the court and knocking down a game-tying 34-footer.
The two stars continued to trade baskets in the extra period. Whenever Brunson scored, Maxey followed. Eventually it came down to the Knicks down four and Joel Embiid getting charged with a flagrant foul on Brunson. The Knicks guard hit one free throw then tied the game on the following possession.
Brunson was brilliant all night, but his turnover with 18 seconds remaining down three essentially put the game out of reach. It brought flashbacks of his costly turnover against the Miami Heat in last year’s postseason. He attempted to correct the mistake but missed a floater with nine seconds remaining. The game was out of reach.
Maxey won the battle. And they’ll face off again Thursday at Wells Fargo Center.
Maxey finished with 44 points, nine assists and five boards in the 112-106 Sixers Game 5 victory. Brunson poured in 40 of his own points to go along with six assists and three rebounds.
The Sixers bumped and contested Brunson all night. Nick Nurse deployed a two-man trap on Brunson in the first half, which didn’t yield much positive results for the Sixers. Two lengthy players constantly tried to corner Brunson at the point of attack. The press wasn’t hard enough, however, and created open lanes for Knick players. Brunson targeted Isaiah Hartenstein and Hart numerous times on those possessions. They all benefited from hockey assists and the trio had two assists each by halftime. Hart and Hartenstein ended the night with four assists each.
Brunson’s load grew bigger with the news of Bojan Bogdanovic left foot injury requiring a postseason-ending injury. And with Tom Thibodeau looking for more help from role players, Donte DiVincenzo was forced to sit after recording three early fouls with 10 minutes remaining in the second quarter.
The Knicks had no answer for Maxey the whole series and to no surprise, the theme continued Tuesday night. He dictated the pace all night Tuesday and carried the Sixers on a night where it seemed like all the “F–k Embiid” got into the head of the reigning MVP.
Embiid totaled nine turnovers and shot 7-for-19 from the field. He scored 19 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and dished 10 assists.
